Female Figure
| Origin | Tlatilco |
|---|---|
| Title | Female Figure |
| Date | 1200–900 BCE |
| Medium | Clay and pigment |
| Dimensions | Mount: 9/16 × 1 1/2 × 3/4 in. (1.4 × 3.8 × 1.9 cm) Object: 3 3/16 × 1 × 5/8 in. (8.1 × 2.5 × 1.6 cm) Overall (includes mount): 3 3/4 × 1 1/2 × 3/4 in. (9.5 × 3.8 × 1.9 cm) |
| Credit Line | Gift of Frederick Stafford, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University |
| Accession Number | 59.40 |
| This artwork is currently on view. | |
A figure standing with long hair, looking straight ahead. The figure has short arms and wide hips and thighs.
For those who study and wish to better understand the history and culture of Mesoamerica Tlatilco is an important site in large part because of the over 300 burials with intact grave goods discovered there. Among these grave goods were a large number and variety of clay figurines.
Among these figurines are two major types, the first are small and solid while the second are large and hollow. The smaller of these figures are often female and often referred to as “pretty ladies.” Characteristic in form, these figures have large heads, wide hips, and a narrow waist, often with proportionally short arms.
1959, Gift to the Indiana University Art Museum from Frederick Stafford, Neuilly-Sur-Seine, France
Unidentified date, Frederick Stafford acquires [1]
Unidentified dates, unidentified owner(s), possibly in Mexico and/or other places [2]
Notes
[1] Frederick Stafford did not provide the museum with any information about how he acquired this artwork.
[2] We do not yet know how many changes in ownership transpired between when this artwork was first made and owned to when Frederick Stafford acquired it. This absence of documentation on ownership history within the cultures where the artworks were made and used is part of a larger history of collecting practices that did not record prior ownership among communities of origin.
Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.
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Cite this page
"Female Figure | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=59.40