Dublin Core
Title
figurine
Identifier
Description
Clay statuette: representation of female figure, Mongoloid type with head and hat or headdress, small arms legs and exaggerated hips. Museum's slip catalogue: 'FIGURINES, human, 16* fragments of, in a whitish pottery. Found by a workman when digging a trench, about six feet from the surface in the Panuco district of the State of Vera-Cruz, not far from Tampico. All seemingly represent females, the hips much exaggerated. The Mongoloid type is noticeable. Note the small hunchback figure. The natives of the Panuco district were of the same race as the Mayas of Yucatan. *6 displayed, 10 in store.'
Creator
McPherson, John Dr
Contributor
McPherson, John Dr
Relation
clay fired.clay
Format
H: 47 mm W: 31 mm
Coverage
America Mexico Veracruz Panuco.near.Tampico
Abstract
One of a selection of snuff mulls (18th -early 19th cent).
Clay figurines appear in graves and the household debris of the earliest farmenrs in Mexico, and continued to be made and used by successive civilisations until the Spanish Conquest. Those made by 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 a 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. small, fired, white clay figurines which were dug up by a workman excavating a trench near Tampico, Vera Cruz State, Mexico, in the 1920's. The figures were all of females and many had exaggerated hips and large buttocks. They are naked and the breasts, navel and vulva are often depicted, and also sometimes the feet and head, but these are not always modelled, and they are small and insignificant. Although the forms of the figurines varies, the essential style emphasises the female sexual characteristics and minimises the head and limbs. They are thought to be prehistoric, certainly Pre-Columbian and probably dating from the first millennium BC.
Clay figurines appear in graves and the household debris of the earliest farmenrs in Mexico, and continued to be made and used by successive civilisations until the Spanish Conquest. Those made by 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 a 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. small, fired, white clay figurines which were dug up by a workman excavating a trench near Tampico, Vera Cruz State, Mexico, in the 1920's. The figures were all of females and many had exaggerated hips and large buttocks. They are naked and the breasts, navel and vulva are often depicted, and also sometimes the feet and head, but these are not always modelled, and they are small and insignificant. Although the forms of the figurines varies, the essential style emphasises the female sexual characteristics and minimises the head and limbs. They are thought to be prehistoric, certainly Pre-Columbian and probably dating from the first millennium BC.