1958.42 Seated Warrior Figure (Jalisco, Mexico, West Mexico)

During the Late Formative period (200 BCE-300 CE), modeled representations of warriors were common in the visual arts of cultures that once occupied the modern-day states of Colima, Nayarit, and Jalisco. Identified by their body armor and helmets, the warriors are depicted either sitting or standing, and wielding a weapon or shield. While their function remains uncertain, such hollow clay figurines were often placed in funerary contexts. Particular to these early cultures of western Mexico, deceased individuals were often interred in deep shaft tombs dug down into the earth. Within this funerary context, the dynamic warrior figurines, with their martial poses and accoutrements, served the deceased, perhaps as tomb guardians.

Carol Robbins, Label text [1958.42; 1973.51], A. H. Meadows Galleries.

Pre-Columbian (American): AAT: 300016619

Jalisco (West Coast Mesoamerican styles): AAT: 300017200

Mexico (nation): TGN: 7005560

Jalisco (state): TGN: 7005586

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 (Archaic / Formative / Mesoamerican period): AAT: 300016967

Late Preclassic Period (Formative): AAT: 300016976

sculpture: AAT: 300047090

figurine: AAT: 300047455

funerary objects: AAT: 300234126

effigies (funerary sculpture): AAT: 300047108

tombs: AAT: 300005926

burials: AAT: 300263485

figures (representations): AAT: 300189808

sitting (seated): AAT: 300263970

male: AAT: 300189559

nude: AAT: 300189568

warriors: AAT: 300261945

armor (protective wear): AAT: 300036745

helmet (protective wear): AAT: 300036794

ear ornaments: AAT: 300211279

nose ornaments (jewelry): AAT: 300211628

nose rings (nose ornaments): AAT: 300046005

weapons: AAT: 300036926

staffs (staff weapon components): AAT: 300204653

guardian: DMA

hollow (form attribute): AAT: 300163023

Until 1958: Everett Rassiga, Black Tulip Galleries, Inc., Dallas [1], [2]

From 1958: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, gift of Everett Rassiga [1], [2], [3]

[1] The main source for this provenance is a letter from Everett Rassiga, Black Tulip Galleries, Inc., to Jerry Bywaters, Director of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts (dated June 12, 1958, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[2] The main source for this provenance is a letter from Jerry Bywaters, Director of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, to Everett Rassiga, Black Tulip Galleries, Inc. (dated August 08, 1958, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). 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 1958.42