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Pre-Columbian Chupicuaro Figure of a "Pretty Lady"

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All Items: Pre-Columbian: Mexico: Pre AD 1000: item #719872

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Pre-Columbian Chupicuaro Figure of a "Pretty Lady"
This Chupicuaro "pretty lady" figure is noteworthy in several respects. First, she is elaborately decorated with applique work of a higher quality than is typical for this type of figure. Second, and most importantly, she is quite large for the type (3.67" tall) and completely intact, a rarity for a type of figure most often plowed up with tools in the course of farming or construction!

Pretty lady figurines were quite common throughout Mexico, particularly among the Chupicuaro, Michoacan, and Tlatilco societies. The exact purpose of these figures is still up for debate, with the most common interpretation being that they are fertility idols buried in homes and fields. For a different perspective, Stone-Miller argues in "Seeing with New Eyes..." that the figures may have been protective items that were ritually broken as young women matured through different life phases (e.g., adolescence, pregnancy, etc).

Ex-Arte Primitivo

AGE: 800-500 B.C., late Pre-Classic

CONDITION: Intact and quite good. There is some roughness to the center of the headband that is either a minor chip or a deliberate element of the decoration; I can't tell for sure.

DIMENSIONS: 3.67" tall (9.32 cm)