Western Mexico, Chupicuaro culture, 500 BC - 300 AC - Feminine Figurine in terracotta

Origin : Western mexico
Culture: Chupicuaro
Period : Preclassical 500 BC - 300 AC
Material : Terracotta
Without base : 12.8 x 4.1 cm
Condition: inconsequential small missing elements Infimes manques sans incidence, traces of manganese oxide
Provenance: Old non-European collection

Cream color feminine statuette (originally painted, very small polychromy residues on the right foot). The figure is represented standing on short legs, toes signified by incisions. The arms are
atrophied, embodied by short limbs on which are set two small pellets. The body is well balanced and has on it's upper part small breasts. The body, in the nude, shows a circular navel overlooking a
female genital signified by a notch. The figure is decorated with circular tambas (ear ornaments), a three rowed necklace and a stylized headdress with on each side a feather branch. The oversized
face is characterized by two big lenticular eyes an a little nose in the shape of a cone. The pallet and incision technique is noteworthy on this piece (genitals, headband, tambas, toes).

The Chupicuaro culture takes its name from the eponymous village located in the Guanajuato state, in central Mexico. Despite the lack of information on this society, it seems to have played an
important role in the cultural development of this part of Mesoamerica. During the recent preclassical period, the heart of Chupicuaro culture was between two cultural poles: the east side of
Mexico's basin, dominated by the Cuicuilco centre, and the regions of the current states of Jalisco, Colima, Nayarit on the west, where also flourish original cultures. It is possible to observe
various iinteractions between all these cultures, particularly in ceramics.