About the Object

This seated figure was carved with its legs propped against its body with its head inclined back. The head is rounded and oblong in shape with a prominent brow and cuts creating the indented eyes, a slight nose, and mouth. The seated figure may be associated with ideas of fertility and the afterlife, or may be more directly associated with “star or planet gazing,” which would note changes in the cosmos to determine when to plant and harvest the crops central to Mezcala society.

Additional Information

Rarer than standing figures that were fashioned from hand axes, or celts, seated Mezcala figures typically feature a small and rotund shape that suggests the use of an unidentified mottled green stone, pebble, or small cobblestones in the piece’s origin. The simplified facial features of this piece suggest this particular figure was created during the middle phase of the Mezcala tradition.