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This may represent a beautiful person to the people who made it. Some cultures in Central and South America practiced head shaping. Boards were strapped to the infant's head while the skull was developing.
Peru
Dimensions: H: 7cm; W: 4cm; T: 4cm
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This figure was once the decorative top of a vessel. Does the figure represent the spirit in the liquid, or should we take it at face value?
Peru
Dimensions: H: 10cm; W: 7cm; T: 7cm
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Is the expression on this figure's face a grimace, or is it the result of a physical deformation? In some cultures people with marked deformations were considered to be in closer touch with supernatural forces.
Peru
Dimensions: H: 5cm; W: 4cm; T: 3cm
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In this area of Mexico a variety of small hairless dog was eaten. Perhaps this vessel was decorated to go with the dish.
Nayarit, Western Mexico, ca. 200 AD
Dimensions: H: 7cm; W: 8cm; T: 8cm
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Could this be a portrait of someone in death? Why would this be important to commemorate in clay? What was his relationship to the sculptor, or to the one who commissioned it?
Manteno Culture (AD 500-1500), Ecuador
Dimensions: H: 9cm; W: 7cm; T: 6cm
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This is another abstract piece, very simple and geometric. It was originally part of a burial urn.
Lower Magdalena River Valley, Columbia.
ca. 1200-1400 AD
Dimensions: H: 10cm; W: 18cm; T: 9cm
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This mask is made from several materials -- metal, clay, shell, and fabric.
The eyes especially stand out.
Peru
Dimensions: H: 18cm; W: 25cm; T: 3cm
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