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Seated woman figurine
Maya
Late Classic Period
600–750 AD
Object Place: Campeche, Mexico, Jaina Island area
Medium/Technique
Earthenware
Dimensions
Overall: 15.2 × 7.9 × 10.2 cm (6 × 3 1/8 × 4 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase with funds donated by Lavinia and Landon T. Clay
Accession Number2007.48
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsFigurines
Women-influential aristocrats and accomplished hosts-were essential participants in royal feasts. Although infrequently recorded on stone monuments, aristocratic women often appear in palace scenes on pottery.
DescriptionFigurine modeled in the form of a seated noblewoman wearing a fine dress (huipil) and jewelry, her hair elegantly wrapped with cloth bands and adornments. She rests a cylindrical drinking vessel on her bent knee. "Maya Blue" pigment colors her dress.
ProvenanceProbably between the late 19th century and mid-1940s, excavated in Jaina, Campeche, Mexico. Jacob Epstein (b. 1880 – d. 1959), London; about 1958/1960, sold from the Epstein collection to Carlo Monzino (b. 1934 – d. 1994), London; November 17, 2006, Monzino estate sale, Sotheby’s, New York, lot 284, to the MFA. (Accession Date: February 21, 2007)