Colima Female Effigy Vessel - PF.1116,Origin: Western Mexico,Circa: 300 BC to 300 AD,Dimensions: 18.5" (47.0cm) high,Collection: Pre-Columbian,Style: Colima,Medium: Terracotta. Colima ceramics are famous for their beautiful light orange to deep red burnished slip, with black patina spotting the surface. Just as charming are the style and subject matter of the objects. This lovely vessel shows a figure who is human from the waist up and a gourd below. The breasts of the person protrude enough to suggest a female, though the face is more masculine. The arms are held tightly to the sides and appear to be bound by a series of bracelets around the middle portion, though these probably represent ornaments. He or she appears to be rising from the gourd, perhaps as a spirit or deity of the plant kingdom. The gourd itself is very nicely fashioned with delicate ridges and slightly varying coloration. Though mythical in conception there is something very endearing, and yet mysterious about this vessel. It is this contrast which makes an object a work of art, along with its purely aesthetic beauty.

Antiquities
Ancient Central America & Mexico