figurine

Pre-classic female figurine with exaggerated shoulders and hips, no head. Back view on display.

McPherson, John Dr

Early: -1000 Late: -200

McPherson, John Dr

clay fired.clay

H: 33 mm

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. The photograph shows six out of 16 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.