Female Figurine (c. 400–100 BCE): Art, History and Details

Female Figurine (c. 400–100 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Small, solid, hand-modeled figurines were a staple of the early Mesoamerican artistic repertoire. Made in distinctive styles corresponding to geographic regions, they likely were used in a variety of contexts, including rites to assure health, fertility, and prosperity. This example is from the Chupícuaro region, north of modern-day Mexico City.

Object facts

• Title: Female Figurine
• Date: c. 400–100 BCE
• Culture: Mesoamerica, Mexico, Guanajuato, Chupícuaro
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: earthenware with pigment
• Dimensions: Overall: 7.5 x 3.5 x 1.2 cm (2 15/16 x 1 3/8 x 1/2 in.)
• Collection: AA - Mesoamerica
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 1990.142

A detail from the museum

This figurine is small enough to fit comfortably in the palm of your hand.

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.