Female Figurine (1200–900 BCE): Art, History and Details

Female Figurine (1200–900 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This ceramic figurine—in the style of Tlatilco, an early village site in central Mexico—depicts a female with an enigmatic motif incised on the back of her head and substantial traces of red and white pigment. Since many figurines from the period depict females, modern interpreters usually connect them to fertility concerns. They also seem to testify to the importance of women among early Mesoamerican cultures.

Object facts

• Title: Female Figurine
• Date: 1200–900 BCE
• Culture: Mesoamerica, Central Mexico, Tlatilco, type D2
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: pottery with white and red pigment
• Dimensions: Overall: 12.6 x 5.3 x 3.2 cm (4 15/16 x 2 1/16 x 1 1/4 in.)
• Collection: AA - Mesoamerica
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 1990.140

A detail from the museum

While many figurines are nude, they were likely dressed in perishable clothing and accessories.

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener

Further reading listed by the museum

• Young-Sánchez, Margaret. "The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 79, no. 7 (1992): 234-75.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.