Nayarit Pottery Seated Nude Figure with Layered Earrings

Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Nayarit. A seated pottery figure, nude, with knees drawn slightly up and forearms folded neatly across them, a pose of watchful repose. The squared head is open at the top and framed by a coiffure or headdress built up in three vertical ridges, each ending in a knob that gives the silhouette a crested outline. Layered earrings ring both ears. The face is simply modeled, with hollow eyes, a jutting nose, and a mouth outlined by a rim that bares a row of teeth. The burnished red-orange slip is thickly speckled with black dendritic mineral deposits, a mottling that comes from long burial. Figures like this were probably placed in West Mexican shaft tombs as companions to the dead. Nayarit figures belong to the West Mexican shaft tomb tradition, named for the deep vertical shafts cut into volcanic tuff, which opened onto chambers where families were buried with ceramic vessels and modeled figures. Nayarit potters favored a lively, sometimes humorous treatment of the body. Heavy ear ornaments and elaborate hair arrangements were common markers of status and identity, and many figures wear them even when shown without clothing. A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids. Item # 205732

Estimate:£225.46

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