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Standing male pottery figure
Colima or Michoacan
Late Formative period
300 B.C.–200 A.D.
Object Place: Colima or Michoacan, Mexico
Medium/Technique
Earthenware
Dimensions
Overall: 55.9 x 25.1 x 17.1 cm (22 x 9 7/8 x 6 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift from the Collection of Shirley and Hy Zaret
Accession Number2008.198
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsCeramics – Pottery – Earthenware
This figure's head strap and horn relate to concepts of rule, personal sacrifice, and cosmic fertility and growth, suggesting that he represents one of the ruling elite. He has decorative scars on his shoulders and wears beads, a belt, and a loin wrap with woven border designs. Unusually large, this figure may have been a tomb-guardian sculpture portraying a principal family member.
DescriptionStanding male figure (Coahuayana-style) with outstretched arm and hand holding a small spherical object (a ball?).
ProvenanceFebruary 2, 1970, sold by Alfred Stendahl, Stendahl Galleries, Los Angeles, to Arnold H. Maremont (b. 1904 - d. 1978), Winnetka, IL; 1978, given with the Maremont collection to the Israel Museum, Jerusalem (accession no. B78.1538); May 14, 1996, sale (property from the Maremont Collection), Sotheby's New York, lot 121, to Lands Beyond Gallery, New York; sold by Lands Beyond Gallery to Hy and Shirley Zaret, Westport, CT; 2008, gift of Shirley Zaret to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 25, 2008)