AD 300–600
Ceramic, pigment
Overall: 10.6 x 0.5 x 1.9 cm (4 3/16 x 3/16 x 3/4 in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener 1990.159
Clay figurines were the earliest and most common art form in the ancient Mesoamerican culture region.
Clay was a major medium in ancient Veracruz, located on Mexico’s Gulf Coast, and artists used it to create huge quantities of sculpture ranging from small whistles and figurines like this one to impressive, life-size figural effigies. Meanings are often obscure, but small objects were important enough to have been deposited in tombs and buried offerings.
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