Female Figurine Item Number: 76.166.41 from the Brooklyn Museum
Description
Small ceramic figurine representing a woman with a large headdress and incised facial features. The lines of the buttocks are incised and the breasts are prominent. The legs, which have protuberances at the back, are articulated and the arms vaguely suggested. CONDITION: good; the legs have been repaired at the hip line.
Credit Line
Gift of Egizia Modiano
Label
Small anthropomorphic ceramic figurines are the hallmark of the ancient Valdivia culture of the tropical lowlands of western Ecuador. They usually depict nude women with prominent breasts, short arms, elaborate hairstyles, and incised features. Because of their abundance and the fact that they appear to have been intentionally mutilated and discarded with common household rubbish, scholars have suggested two possible functions: as offerings in fertility rituals or as repositories for spirit helpers summoned by shamans during healing ceremonies.
Pequeñas figurillas antropomórficas de cerámica son el sello de la antigua cultura Valdivia de las tierras bajas tropicales del oeste de Ecuador. Usualmente representan mujeres desnudas con pechos prominentes, brazos cortos, peinados elaborados y rasgos incisos. Por su abundancia y el hecho de que aparecen haber sido intencionalmente mutiladas y desechadas junto con la basura de las casas, académicos han sugerido dos posibles funciones: como ofrendas en rituales de fertilidad, o como recipiente para los espíritus ayudantes llamados por los chamanes en ceremonias curativas.
Item History
- Made between 2601 BCE and 1501 BCE
What
Who
- Culture
- Valdivia
Where
- Holding Institution
- Brooklyn Museum
When
- Creation Date
- between 2601 BCE and 1501 BCE
Other
- Location
- Arts of the Americas Galleries, 5th Floor
- Classification
- Sculpture