Possibly an initiate to becoming a fertility goddess, with her somewhat surprised facial gesture and her hands at her slightly swollen belly, we wonder whether this young girl has just felt her newly conceived baby kick. Wearing an unusual striped cap, which may indicate a special importance in Nayarit society, bold facial paint, nose ring withsome other jewelry and minimal clothing at her extremities. The artist's ability to convey gentle human warmth in an essentially abstract form gives Chinesco figures their timeless appeal. Their mood is quiet, introspective, a bit shy but observant. Our heroine has become aware of an ageless secret, as if the passage of time has given her knowledge of universal a truth. The figures keep all information to themselves, however, as if preferring that we discover the answers for ourselves.
The seated female had a funerary symbolism, appropriate for their function as effigy figures in shaft tomb burial chambers. The term ‘Chinesco’ is used to describe the vague Oriental feel of such pieces as well as a collective heading for previously unknown or unrecognized ceramics of related styles. We see in this piece the characteristic triangle almost heart-shaped head and large ornamented nose that further distinguishes this commanding art style.
Towards the end of the pre-classic period in Ancient Meso-America, the regions of Colima, Nayarit, and Jalisco in Western Mexico became home to what has now been termed the shaft-tomb culture. These people built tombs consisting of shafts 10-60 feet deep with several avoid tombs branching either directly off of the main shaft at various levels, or connected to it by lateral tunnels. The burial offerings, which filled these tombs, have become our greatest link to this lost culture. The seated female had a funerary symbolism, appropriate for their function as effigy figures in shaft tomb burial chambers. The term ‘Chinesco’ is used to describe the vague Oriental feel of such pieces as well as a collective heading for previously unknown or unrecognized ceramics of related styles. We see in this piece the characteristic triangle almost heart-shaped head and large ornamented nose that further distinguishes this commanding art style.
Towards the end of the pre-classic period in Ancient Meso-America, the regions of Colima, Nayarit, and Jalisco in Western Mexico became home to what has now been termed the shaft-tomb culture. These people built tombs consisting of shafts 10-60 feet deep with several avoid tombs branching either directly off of the main shaft at various levels, or connected to it by lateral tunnels. The burial offerings, which filled these tombs, have become our greatest link to this lost culture.