figurine

Fragment (head) of red clay figure, covered in greyish clay/pigment, some of which is now flaking off. Wears necklet.

H: 73 mm

America Mexico Teotihuacan

McPherson, John Dr

clay fired.clay pottery

McPherson,John Dr

Clay figurines appear in the graves and household debris of the earliest farmers in Mexico and continued to be made and used by successive civilisations until the Spanish Conquest. Those made by the village farming communities of the Mexican Neolithic most often represent women, with exaggeration of the breasts and buttocks perhaps reflecting a concern with human fertility and increase. Images of the later period, especially those from the great classical city of Teotihuacan, illustrate a variety of gods and human types, reflecting the richness and diversity of an elaborate priest-temple cult. 

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