figure
- Museum number
- Am1981,27.1
- Description
-
Seated painted figurine made of pottery.
- Production date
- 1200 BC - 400 BC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 15.50 centimetres
-
Width: 11.50 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
From register "Wellcome Historical Museum".
Date circa 1200-500 BC.
-
McEwan 1994, p.19
'The use of fine white kaolin clays imbues this 'baby' pottery figure with a plastic, life-like quality. Traces of vivid red pigment that was applied on top of the white slip are still visible'
-
McEwan 2009, p.40
Seated Figurine. Kaolin clay pottery, Olmec, Mexico. 12th-15th century BC
Mexico's Gulf Coast lowlands were the setting for the rise of the first widespread style in Mesoamerica in objects ranging from monumental stone sculpture to smaller, portable pieces in different media. The use of fine white kaolin clay gives this figurine a life like quality and traces of a vivid red pigment that was applied on top of the white slip are also still visible. One rare find of a group of Olmec figurines, excavated in situ, revealed standing figures arranged in a semicircle, apparently engaged in an act of collective veneration or worship. This figure may once have formed part of such a scene.
- Location
- On display (G27/dc1)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2003 26 Jun-16 Nov, BM Room 5, Medicine Man: The forgotten museum of Henry Wellcome
- Condition
- Repaired - one leg broken and rejoined.
- Acquisition date
- 1981
- Department
- Africa, Oceania and the Americas
- Registration number
- Am1981,27.1