Skip to main content
Close
Vilcek Foundation
  • About
    • About

      The Vilcek Foundation raises awareness of immigrant contributions in the United States and fosters appreciation of the arts and sciences.

    • Our Mission
    • Board & Staff
    • Press Center
    • Contact
  • Prizes
    • Prizes

      The Vilcek Foundation Prizes are awarded to foreign-born individuals for extraordinary achievement in the arts and sciences.

    • About the Prizes

      Learn more about the Vilcek Foundation Prizes and the prizewinners.

    • Vilcek Prizes

      Awarded to immigrants with a legacy of major accomplishments.

    • Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise

      Awarded to young immigrant professionals who have demonstrated outstanding achievement early in their careers.

    • Vilcek Prize for Excellence

      Awarded to immigrants who have had a significant impact on American society, or to individuals who are dedicated champions of immigrant causes.

    • Prize Recipients
    • Grants for Organizations
  • Art
  • Events
  • News
Sign Up Search
Home > Art > Colima Standing Figure

Colima Standing Figure

Standing sculpture of a female with realistic facial features and coiffure.
Artist

Unknown Artist

Date

300 BCE-100 CE

Medium

Polychrome painted ceramic

Object Type

Ceramic

Dimensions

H- 12 x W- 4 1/2 x D- 2 1/2 in. (30.5 x 11.4 x 6.4 cm)

Collecting Area

Pre-Columbian

Credit Line

The Jan T. and Marica Vilcek Collection

Accession Number

1995.03.1

Copyright

© The Vilcek Foundation

Tags
ceramic Colima Female Fertility figure
Share this page
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
Standing sculpture of a female with realistic facial features and coiffure.

About the Object

This particular work displays the realism and skill developed by Colima artists over centuries of working with ceramics. The female figure may have been associated with fertility rituals, or may have been created especially to accompany an esteemed individual into the afterlife since many of these objects have been associated with shaft tomb burials. This figure’s elaborate arm markings/bands and coiffure most likely indicate social status since specialized hairstyles and headdresses were often used to demonstrate social differentiation throughout the pre-colonial Americas.

 

Additional Information

The Colima tradition is related to similar pre-colonial cultures found across the modern western Mexican states of Nayarit, Jalisco, and Colima that all share some distinct material culture with other areas of Mesoamerica. These remaining ceramics, architectural forms, and ritual iconography especially center around death. Due to persistent looting, much remains unknown regarding the Colima, however, increasing archeological and scholarly analysis is allowing for greater understanding of the complexity of these cultures.

[Sotheby’s New York, May 16, 1995, lot 82];
[Throckmorton Fine Art, New York, NY];

Sotheby’s New York, Pre-Columbian Art, May 16, 1995, lot 82.

Tags
ceramic Colima Female Fertility figure
Share this page
Twitter Facebook LinkedIn

Related Objects

Zacatecas Standing Figure

300-100 BCE Unknown Artist
Abstract sculpture representing a female figure standing upright with hands resting on hips.

Calima-Malagana Kneeling Figure

500-1000 CE Unknown Artist
Kneeling woman with a red body and squared shoulders, flat squared face, nose-ring and abstract headpiece.

Chinesco (Nayarit) Maternity Figure

200 BCE-200 CE Unknown Artist
A stylized ceramic standing female figure painted red, yellow, and black.

Zacatecas Seated Figure

250-450 CE Unknown Artist
Stylized sculpture depicting a seated woman with hands on her hips, an open mouth, ear spools, and body paint.

Chorrera Standing Figure

1300-500 BCE (Tabuchila Phase, Late Formative Period) Unknown Artist
Stylized ceramic standing female figure with short round shoulders and legs, a headress, and ear spools.

Chorrera Figure Fragment

1000-500 BCE (Tabuchila Phase, Late Formative Period) Unknown Artist
Ceramic fragment of a figure with a tilted head, painted in red.

Mixtec Standing Figure of Dzavui (Tlaloc)

c. 900 CE Unknown Artist
Standing stone figure with large goggle-like eyes, a curled lip, large teeth, folded arms wearing a headdress.

Seated Figure with Small Child (Probably Jalisco)

100 BCE-250 CE Unknown Artist
Larger ceramic figure sits cross-legged, one hand resting at its neck, the other on a small child in its lap.

Nariño Coquero Seated Figure

850-1500 CE (Piartal-Tuza Periods) Unknown Artist
A seated male figure with a painted face, enlarged cheeks, and a woven band across the chest.

Teotihuacan Goddess/God of Fertility

250-450 CE (Early Tlamimlolpa Micaotli-Early Xolapan Periods) Unknown Artist
Seated stone figure with an elaborate headdress, garment, and ear spools.

You may also be interested in

May 24, 2022

Vilcek Foundation supports “Grounded in Clay: The Spirit of Pueblo Pottery”

The foundation has partnered with the School for Advanced Research to develop an exhibition of Native American pottery curated by the Pueblo Pottery Collective.
A close up of a pueblo pot against a black background.

Meleko Mokgosi

Meleko Mokgosi receives the Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Fine Arts for paintings that rely on intensive research, reflection, and conversation in order to address widespread misrepresentation of Africa and Africans, and to accurately portray the continent’s complex social and political realities.
Portrait of Meleko Mokgosi
Exhibition,

Ryo Toyonaga: Mephistophelean

Between 1995 and 2003, Japanese-born artist Ryo Toyonaga produced some 300 ceramic-based objects in his Red Kill Studio, a secluded cabin in the Catskill Mountains.

Join our mailing list

Sign Up
Vilcek Foundation
21 East 70th Street
New York, New York 10021

Phone: 212.472.2500

Email: info@vilcek.org

  • About
    • Our Mission
    • Board and Staff
    • Press Center
    • Contact
  • Prizes
    • Vilcek Prizes
    • Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise
    • Vilcek Prize for Excellence
    • Prize Recipients
    • Grants for Organizations
  • Art
  • Events
  • News
  • Careers
Connect with us
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Youtube
  • Vimeo
  • Privacy Policy
  • Accessibility Statement
© 2022   Vilcek Foundation