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Lot 30
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Pre-Columbian West Mexican Pottery Figures - Colima Warriors & Jalisco Female
Pre-Columbian West Mexican Pottery Figures - Colima Warriors & Jalisco Female
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Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Colima and Jalisco cultures, ca. 300 BCE – 300 CE. A trio of modeled ceramic figures from the shaft-tomb traditions of West Mexico, each a small but charged study in the human form. The bearded figure, rendered in buff slip with traces of red pigment, stands with hands set against the hips and elbows winging outward, his headband incised and his beard combed into a sculpted ridge along the jaw, a Colima warrior whose loincloth and stout legs were pressed and pinched from the same hand-built body. Beside him, a redware Colima male strides forward with arm raised, an erect phallus declaring his role as a fertility-charged protector or combatant; his conical headdress and applique features owe their crispness to deft thumbwork in still-damp clay. The third figure, a Jalisco standing nude female of the so-called "sheep-face" type, is finished in a burnished blackware whose smoky surface still carries a soft sheen. Her elongated cranium, pinched nose, and coffee-bean eyes typify the canon that scholars have linked to the Ameca-Etzatlan region, where such figures accompanied the dead into deep shaft tombs as companions, ancestors, or guardians. Together the three offer a compact view of Occidente sculptural vocabulary: the muscular bravado of Colima warriors set against the spectral economy of a Jalisco woman, each a vessel of belief shaped by hand more than two millennia ago. Size of largest (bearded figure): 2.6" W x 4.8" H (6.6 cm W x 12.2 cm H).

Provenance: Private Colorado collection, ex collection of Y. Kayvan, Los Angeles, California, USA, acquired from Barakat Gallery, Los Angeles, California, USA gallery acquisition dates range from the late 1980s to 2005

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Item # 202782

  • Condition: Good. Both Colima figures have been professionally repaired and restored. Light surface wear throughout. Otherwise, all present nicely with good remaining detail and scattered earthen deposits.

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by Artemis Fine Arts
June 25, 2026 9:00 AM MDT
686 S. Taylor Avenue
Suite 108
Louisville, CO, US 80027

Artemis Fine Arts

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Bid Increments
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$0 $299 $25
$300 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 $199,999 $10,000
$200,000 + $20,000