Jalisco, El Arenal type
West Mexico
100 BC to 250 AD
Ceramic
Height 16 inches
Provenance: Dr. Ernesto Lira, Corpus Christi, Texas, acquired 1960s
Exhibition: Museum of the Red River, Idabel, Oklahoma; Museum of the Southwest, Midland, Texas; Mabee Gerrer Museum of Art, Shawnee, Oklahoma, "Pre-Columbian Life Ways," 2019 to 2022
El Arenal is a recognized type within the Jalisco ceramic tradition of West Mexico, distinguished by large scale figures with elaborate surface decoration depicting armed men in warrior dress. Figures of this type were placed as funerary offerings in shaft tombs and are thought by scholars to represent individuals of military or ritual standing, possibly warriors, shamans, or ancestral figures. This figure carries a helmet, a rectangular shield, and a club, a combination associated with a recognized Jalisco martial iconographic type.
The figure stands holding a large rectangular shield with a painted pinwheel pattern in one hand and a club in the other, wearing a peaked helmet with projecting elements and a draped garment across one shoulder. The surface is finished in cream slip over a reddish brown ground, with white dot decoration applied to the shield and torso, and individually modeled fingernails are visible on the hands. The piece was exhibited at three American museum venues between 2019 and 2022 as part of Pre-Columbian Life Ways, and traces to a Texas collection formed in the 1960s.
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Jalisco, El Arenal type
West Mexico
100 BC to 250 AD
Ceramic
Height 16 inches
Provenance: Dr. Ernesto Lira, Corpus Christi, Texas, acquired 1960s
Exhibition: Museum of the Red River, Idabel, Oklahoma; Museum of the Southwest, Midland, Texas; Mabee Gerrer Museum of Art, Shawnee, Oklahoma, "Pre-Columbian Life Ways," 2019 to 2022
El Arenal is a recognized type within the Jalisco ceramic tradition of West Mexico, distinguished by large scale figures with elaborate surface decoration depicting armed men in warrior dress. Figures of this type were placed as funerary offerings in shaft tombs and are thought by scholars to represent individuals of military or ritual standing, possibly warriors, shamans, or ancestral figures. This figure carries a helmet, a rectangular shield, and a club, a combination associated with a recognized Jalisco martial iconographic type.
The figure stands holding a large rectangular shield with a painted pinwheel pattern in one hand and a club in the other, wearing a peaked helmet with projecting elements and a draped garment across one shoulder. The surface is finished in cream slip over a reddish brown ground, with white dot decoration applied to the shield and torso, and individually modeled fingernails are visible on the hands. The piece was exhibited at three American museum venues between 2019 and 2022 as part of Pre-Columbian Life Ways, and traces to a Texas collection formed in the 1960s.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
