1971.22 Standing female figure (Tlatilco, Mexico, Tlatilco style)

During the late second millennium BCE, ceramic female figures were a popular theme among the peoples of central Mexico. They often share a number of characteristics including unnatural limbs and distinctive, sometimes abnormal, facial features, which may have granted them more direct access to the supernatural world. Though there are a wide variety of types and depictions, they are generally interpreted as fertility figurines. In this example the ample hips and legs, full and rounded, convey nurturing abundance. Some figures indicate social status, through hairstyle and ornamentation as seen here, and many of the figures reflect regional traditions. The distorted body proportions and characteristic narrow mouth and eyes of this figure, for instance, identify this as a "pretty lady" figure from Tlatilco, an early site in the Valley of Mexico contemporaneous to the Olmec culture. A favorite theme for Mesoamerica’s earliest ceramic artists, these types of female figures probably alluded to hopes for human and agricultural fertility.

Pre-Columbian (American): AAT: 300016619

Tlatilco (Central Plateau Mesoamerican styles and periods): AAT: 300017007

Central Plateau Mesoamerican styles: AAT: 300017030

Mexico (nation): TGN: 7005560

Tlatilco (inhabited place): TGN: 7433510

ceramic (material): AAT: 300235507

paint (coating): AAT: 300015029

slip (clay): AAT: 300010459

slip glaze: AAT: 300015110

clay: AAT: 300010439

resin (organic material): AAT: 300012882

glazing (coating): AAT: 300053914

incising: AAT: 300053847

burnishing (polishing): AAT: 30053869

modeling (forming): AAT: 300053130

coiling (pottery technique): AAT: 300053903

slab method (pottery technique): AAT: 300053905

Formative Period (Preclassic): AAT: 300016973

Preclassic period (Formative period / Archaic period /Mesoamerican periods and styles): AAT: 300016967

Early Preclassic period (Formative period / Mesoamerican periods and styles): AAT: 300016970

sculpture: AAT: 300047090

figurine: AAT: 300047455

funerary objects: AAT: 300234126

effigies (funerary sculpture): AAT: 300047108

burials: AAT: 300263485

figures (representations): AAT: 300189808

standing: AAT: 300239500

female: AAT: 300189557

women (female humans): AAT: 300025943

nude: AAT: 300189568

hairstyles: AAT: 300262903

hair ornaments: AAT: 300209287

beads (pierced objects): AAT: 300234006

circular (shape): AAT: 300263827

round (shape): AAT: 300121969

legs (animal or human components): AAT: 300310192

hips (animal or human components): AAT: 300310191

fertility: AAT: 300379149

supernatural (concepts): AAT: 300055947

social status: AAT: 300065206

beauty (aesthetic concepts): AAT: 300055821

agriculture (sciences): AAT: 300054463

hollow (form attribute): AAT: 300163023

From 1971: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, General Acquisitions Fund, purchased from Teochita, Inc., New York [1], [2], [3]

[1] The main source for this provenance was existing provenance information in TMS. Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[2] The main source for this provenance is Acquisition Record (dated April 13, 1971, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[3] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.

Apply to objects where number equals 1971.22