Jalisco San Sebastian Semi-Nude Seated Female Figure with Raised Hands

Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Jalisco, San Sebastian style. A seated female figure in burnished pottery. Her legs stretch straight out in front of her, ending in feet with incised toes. Her arms bend at the elbows and lift her hands, palms open and turned toward the viewer, in a gesture that could read as greeting or as blessing. The head is very tall and topped by a flat, banded headdress. Under a narrow ridged brow and a long, wedge-shaped nose, the face is calm and simple. Tasseled ornaments hang from both ears, and bands circle the upper arms. Her chest is bare. The full breasts still show traces of spiraling painted designs, probably meant as tattoos or body paint. Around the hips, red and dark slip forms a patterned skirt or loincloth. Figures like this were probably made as offerings for shaft tombs. The San Sebastian style is named for San Sebastian, a town in Jalisco. It is one of the best-known styles from the shaft tomb tradition of ancient West Mexico. In this tradition, families buried their dead in chambers cut into the volcanic rock at the bottom of deep vertical shafts, along with ceramic figures and vessels. San Sebastian figures are easy to recognize: the heads are very tall, almost like slabs, the noses are sharp, and the bodies are full and rounded, often decorated with painted body designs and jewelry. Scholars usually read these figures as images of high-status people, possibly ancestors, who accompanied the dead. The painted marks on the skin are often taken as a record of real body decoration. Item # 205627

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