Pair of Standing Figures (c. 100 BCE–300 CE): Art, History and Details

Pair of Standing Figures (c. 100 BCE–300 CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Nagarit ceramic sculputres, like those of Colima, were manufactured for burial with the dead. The popular male-female couples may be portraits of the individuals with whom they were buried. This female figure, dressed in a colorful skirt and hat, has painted or tattooed patterns on her torso and face. Jewelry adorns her face, ears, and nose. The vessel on her shoulder symbolizes her domestic duties. Like his female companion, this male figure is portrayed in all his finery. He carries spears, indicating that he is a hunter or warrior, and his confident grin conveys aggression and vitality.

Object facts

• Title: Pair of Standing Figures
• Date: c. 100 BCE–300 CE
• Culture: Mexico, Nayarit, Ixtlan del Rio Style
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: earthenware with colored slips
• Dimensions: Overall: 52 x 32.5 x 19.5 cm (20 1/2 x 12 13/16 x 7 11/16 in.); Part 2: 48 x 30.8 x 16 cm (18 7/8 x 12 1/8 x 6 5/16 in.)
• Collection: AA - Mesoamerica
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 1990.266

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.