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Description

Day of the Dead figure. Figure depicts a skeleton holding a bouquet. The skeleton has white hair, made from a cotton ball, and is wearing mourning attire which consists of a long, black dress and black lace veil. The veil wraps around the skeleton's head, but leaves the face exposed. It gathers at the back of the neck, and extends behind the figure. The skeleton's bouquet is held upright, and is made up of one red, one white, one orange, and one light blue flower, as well as several green, segmented strands. The bouquet's stems are wrapped in green fibre. The skeleton's head is mounted on a spring, and it is standing on a square, dark green base.

Narrative

Purchased directly from the maker in Oaxaca in 2019. Sra. Elipidia Chacon Ruiz told Shelton that her parents had also been potters in Oaxaca. She is in her 80s, and has taught her daughters and their children how to make the figures. She also told him it was the younger members of her family that came up with the idea of making skeletons in cars and racing cars.

History Of Use

Figures like these, made by local artisans, have commonly been sold in indigenous markets throughout Mexico, especially for Day of the Dead celebrations. The figures are used as domestic decorations and presents for children. In 2019 Shelton noted that both the large Oaxaca market and the Sonora market in Mexico City had far fewer stalls selling this type of figure than there had been twenty years earlier. One maker in Oaxaca said domestic demand had declined, and that there were fewer artisans as many of the older makers had died and their children hadn't taken-up the craft. Some of the artisans make skeletal figures encased in glass, to sell to tourists through folk art shops.