Michoacán - West Mexico (Pre-Columbian 100BCE)

Artist: Unknown (Michoacán - West Mexico - Pre-Columbian 100BCE).
Title: Small head of a flat figure with headdress - Michoacán - West Mexico.
Medium: Clay, on a custom mahogany and brass plinth.
Condition: This work has some losses, the condition is commensurate with age.
Provenance: Private Collection Sydney.

About: Small Head of a flat figure with headdress - Michoacán - West Mexico. Purépecha indigenous people, approximately 100 BCE. This is the head fragment of a larger statue that would encompass the full female figure, often portrayed in traditional dress inclusive of the headdress. Variations of these figures are well represented within the antiquity collections of major institutions throughout Europe and the Americas. As this is a fragment of a larger work, it is likely a portrayal of a female deity alternatively a symbol of fertility.