Tuxcacuesco-Ortices Style Colima Terracotta Sculpture of a Standing Man - PF.0258,Origin: Colima, Mexico,Circa: 300 BC to 300 AD,Dimensions: 7.25" (18.4cm) high x 4" (10.2cm)  More »

Tuxcacuesco-Ortices Style Colima Terracotta Sculpture of a Standing Man - PF.0258,Origin: Colima, Mexico,Circa: 300 BC to 300 AD,Dimensions: 7.25" (18.4cm) high x 4" (10.2cm) wide,Collection: Pre-Columbian,Style: Tuxcacuesco-Ortices,Medium: Terracotta. Such charming terracottas represent the citizens of ancient Colima: men and women, high-born and low, dancers, athletes and priests. They reveal in the details of their costumes and gestures much about an otherwise vanished world. Even as we acknowledge the vast gulf between their culture and ours, we recognize the fundamental human qualities we share and which time has not altered.   « Less

Tuxcacuesco-Ortices Style Colima Terracotta Sculpture of a Woman - DC.356,Origin: Western Mexico,Circa: 300 BC to 300 AD,Dimensions: 7" (17.8cm) high,Collection:  More »

Tuxcacuesco-Ortices Style Colima Terracotta Sculpture of a Woman - DC.356,Origin: Western Mexico,Circa: 300 BC to 300 AD,Dimensions: 7" (17.8cm) high,Collection: Pre-Columbian Art,Style: Tuxcacuesco-Ortices,Medium: Terracotta.   « Less

Tuxcacuesco-Ortices Style Colima Terracotta Sculpture of a Standing Man - CK.0005,Origin: Western Mexico,Circa: 300 BC to 300 ADDimensions: 7.75" (19.7cm) high x 4" (10.2cm)  More »

Tuxcacuesco-Ortices Style Colima Terracotta Sculpture of a Standing Man - CK.0005,Origin: Western Mexico,Circa: 300 BC to 300 ADDimensions: 7.75" (19.7cm) high x 4" (10.2cm) wide,Collection: Pre-Columbian,Style: Tuxcacuesco-Ortices,Medium: Terracotta. There are many distinct groups within the agglomeration referred to as the Western Mexico Shaft Tomb (WMST) tradition, foremost among them the Jalisco, Nayarit, and Colima. Their relationships are almost totally obscure due to the lack of contextual information. However, it is the artworks that are the most informative. All of the cultures encompassed under the WMST umbrella were in the habit of burying their dead in socially-stratified burial chambers at the base of deep shafts, which were in turn often topped by buildings. Originally believed to be influenced by the Tarascan people, who were contemporaries of the Aztecs, thermoluminescence has pushed back the dates of these groups over 1000 years. Although the apogee of this tradition was reached in the last centuries of the 1st millennium BC, it has its origins over 1000 years earlier at sites such as Huitzilapa and Teuchitlan, in the Jalisco region. Little is known of the cultures themselves, although preliminary data seems to suggest that they were sedentary agriculturists with social systems not dissimilar to chiefdoms. These cultures are especially interesting to students of Mesoamerican history as they seem to have been to a large extent outside the ebb and flow of more aggressive cultures – such as the Toltecs, Olmecs and Maya – in the same vicinity. Thus insulated from the perils of urbanization, they developed very much in isolation, and it behooves us to learn what we can from what they have left behind.   « Less

Tuxcacuesco-Ortices Style Colima Terracotta Sculpture of a Standing Man - CK.0744,Origin: Western Mexico,Circa: 300 BC to 300 AD,Dimensions: 6.5" (16.5cm) high x 3.625"  More »

Tuxcacuesco-Ortices Style Colima Terracotta Sculpture of a Standing Man - CK.0744,Origin: Western Mexico,Circa: 300 BC to 300 AD,Dimensions: 6.5" (16.5cm) high x 3.625" (9.2cm) wide,Collection: Pre-Columbian,Style: Tuxcacuesco-Ortices,Medium: Terracotta.   « Less

Jalisco Terracotta Sculpture of a Standing Man - PF.0218,Origin: Western Mexico,Circa: 300 BC to 300 AD,Dimensions: 5.75" (14.6cm) high,Catalogue: V2,Collection:  More »

Jalisco Terracotta Sculpture of a Standing Man - PF.0218,Origin: Western Mexico,Circa: 300 BC to 300 AD,Dimensions: 5.75" (14.6cm) high,Catalogue: V2,Collection: Pre-Columbian,Style: Jalisco,Medium: Terracotta. Standing in an attitude of reverence, as if in awe before the great unknown forces of the universe, this fellow seems to represent a Mezoamerican everyman. Many of the questions someone of that culture would have asked about the workings of the cosmos have still not been answered in our own technological age. We can easily identify with this little figure's air of shy and hesitant wonder.   « Less

Jalisco Sculpture of a Seated Woman - PF.0551,Origin: Jalisco, Mexico,Circa: 300 BC to 300 AD,Dimensions: 10" (25.4cm) high,Collection: Pre-Columbian,Style: Jalisco,Medium:  More »

Jalisco Sculpture of a Seated Woman - PF.0551,Origin: Jalisco, Mexico,Circa: 300 BC to 300 AD,Dimensions: 10" (25.4cm) high,Collection: Pre-Columbian,Style: Jalisco,Medium: Terracotta. Wearing a peaked 'soft' cap this female shows elongation of the occipital bone characteristic of Jalisco style. Her face is slightly turned downwards at an angle, with mouth open, eyes containing fillets with the left one higher than the right, which gives her an amused expression. The arms are attached to the sides having only minimal definition, as if to emphasize the broadness of her chest. Her 'sarong' (worn by most Jalisco female scultures) is decorated with circles or 'pellets' done in white slip, contrasting nicely against the red. These circles lend energy to the entire figure, just as the tilt of the head creates a certain feeling of warmth highly suitable to her maternal image.   « Less

Jalisco Standing Pregnant Woman - PF.0552,Origin: Western Mexico,Circa: 300 BC to 300 AD,Dimensions: 6.5" (16.5cm) high,Collection: Pre-Columbian,Style: Jalisco,Medium:  More »

Jalisco Standing Pregnant Woman - PF.0552,Origin: Western Mexico,Circa: 300 BC to 300 AD,Dimensions: 6.5" (16.5cm) high,Collection: Pre-Columbian,Style: Jalisco,Medium: Terracotta. This woman seems quite delighted to be pregnant. She smiles broadly and clutches her enlarged belly as if to emphasize the obvious.   « Less

Jalisco Sculpture of a Woman Lying in Bed - PF.0751,Origin: Western Mexico,Circa: 300 BC to 300 AD,Dimensions: 1.25" (3.2cm) high x 1.5" (3.8cm) wide x 2.25" (5.7cm)  More »

Jalisco Sculpture of a Woman Lying in Bed - PF.0751,Origin: Western Mexico,Circa: 300 BC to 300 AD,Dimensions: 1.25" (3.2cm) high x 1.5" (3.8cm) wide x 2.25" (5.7cm) depth,Catalogue: V2,Collection: Pre-Columbian,Style: Jalisco,Medium: Terracotta. Most probably this miniature female is meant to be dead, laid out on her funeral bier (from which she is detachable). Almost all the surviving art of ancient Jalisco was intended for burial with the dead, but its subject matter is preoccupied with the living. This little sculpture confronts death directly, and with the unblinking objectivity of a photograph.   « Less

Jalisco Statuette of a Standing Man - PF.0863,Origin: Western Mexico,Circa: 300 BC to 300 AD,Dimensions: 4.75" (12.1cm) high x 2.25" (5.7cm) wide,Collection:  More »

Jalisco Statuette of a Standing Man - PF.0863,Origin: Western Mexico,Circa: 300 BC to 300 AD,Dimensions: 4.75" (12.1cm) high x 2.25" (5.7cm) wide,Collection: Pre-Columbian,Style: Jalisco,Medium: Terracotta. What an odd little person this is! Legs spread wide, as if saddled upon an imaginary horse. Resting precariously on his toes with a mysterious object balancd atop his head. Is he an initiate in some obscure Mesoamerican religios ritual or merely a participant in a funny game whose rules have long-since been forgotten?.   « Less

Jalisco Amulet in the Form of a Mask - PF.0882,Origin: Western Mexico,Circa: 300 BC to 300 AD,Dimensions: 2.75" (7.0cm) high x 2.125" (5.4cm) wide,Collection:  More »

Jalisco Amulet in the Form of a Mask - PF.0882,Origin: Western Mexico,Circa: 300 BC to 300 AD,Dimensions: 2.75" (7.0cm) high x 2.125" (5.4cm) wide,Collection: Pre-Columbian,Style: Jalisco,Medium: Terracotta. Since the dawn of time, a powerful magic has been associated with masks. They transform the wearer into someone or something else and transcend the physical boundaries of life. This fascinating miniature example--with eyes pierced, as if to be worn over a tiny face--was probably used in the funerary rites of ancient Mexico. In many great cultures--the Egyptian, Mycenean, the Roman--masks played an important role in the transition between this world and the next. Even in an age that has forgotten such rituals, the power of this object is undeniable.   « Less