Keywords: Colima - Seated Female Figure - Walters 20092053 - Three Quarter Right.jpg The Coahuayana River Valley was home to many large villages and towns and their artists produced a distinctive local version of the large hollow tomb figure Coahuayana figural art is characterized by elegant renderings of persons of authority Most portrayals lack individuality and instead serve as sculptural representations of social position or political rank This seated female's serene countenance shoulder scarification patterns necklace and pierced ears denote a person of high status The artist accentuated the figure with red slip enhancing her hair forearms and legs below the knee Her identification as a person of authority is further indicated by her sitting on a four-legged stool or bench; this type of seating was closely associated with elevated status throughout the ancient Americas She raises a small dish in her right hand as if proffering its contents to unseen persons perhaps participants in an aristocratic feasting event 100 BC-AD 300 earthenware burnished red slip paint with resist designs in black cm 49 5 30 5 24 8 accession number 2009 20 53 80208 Stendhal Galleries Los Angeles date and mode of acquisition unknown John G Bourne 1940s by purchase Walters Art Museum Gift of John Bourne 2009 place of origin Michoacán Mexico Walters Art Museum license Objects from Colima in the Walters Art Museum Media contributed by the Walters Art Museum needs category review |