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Lot 5
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Large Jalisco Terracotta Pregnant Female Figure, San Juanito Style
Large Jalisco Terracotta Pregnant Female Figure, San Juanito Style
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Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Jalisco, Protoclassic Period, ca. 100 BCE to 250 CE. A large and commanding terracotta figure modeled in the form of a seated nude pregnant female, one of the most evocative and symbolically resonant figure types to emerge from the shaft-tomb tradition of ancient West Mexico. The figure sits in a posture of weighted stillness, legs extended forward and slightly apart, the mass of her heavily pregnant abdomen dominating the composition with an unselfconscious physicality entirely characteristic of the Jalisco San Juanito style. The torso is broad and rounded, the exposed breasts full and pendulous, rendered with anatomical frankness that underscores the figure's association with fertility, generation, and the cyclical forces of life and death. Both arms are raised outward from the body, the hands open, a gesture that reads simultaneously as supplication and presentation. The toes of each foot are carefully articulated, a detail that animates the lower body with quiet naturalism. Size: 9.8" W x 20.3" H x 10.5" D (24.9 cm W x 51.6 cm H x 26.7 cm D)

The figure is otherwise nude save for a painted headband encircling the elongated cranium, a pair of modeled earrings flanking the broad, expressive face, and the armbands noted above. Remains of painted black designs survive on the breasts and torso, their deliberate placement strongly suggesting the representation of ritual tattooing or body painting, a practice widely documented among ancient Mesoamerican cultures as a marker of social status, spiritual affiliation, or ceremonial role. The surface displays a warm cream-to-buff ground with passages of red slip at the neck, waist, and lower body, the polychromy muted by age but still legible.

The elongated head form is among the most distinctive hallmarks of the Jalisco San Juanito style, likely representing deliberate cranial modification, a practice of high social and ritual significance throughout ancient Mesoamerica. The figure's pregnancy, exposed breasts, and body ornamentation together identify her as a being of considerable sacred power, an earth mother, a fertility deity, or an ancestral figure whose capacity to generate and sustain life was understood as continuous with the regenerative forces of the cosmos itself. Large, well-preserved, and richly detailed examples of this type are among the most sought-after works in West Mexican Pre-Columbian art.

Provenance: private Colorado, USA collection; ex-private Los Angeles, California, USA collection; ex-major gallery, Beverly Hills, California, USA, primarily acquired between 1985 and 2005

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Item # 202432

  • Condition: Very Good. Professionally repaired with restoration and repainting over break lines; all done expertly and difficult to detect. Some light surface wear as shown. Otherwise, excellent presentation with good remaining detail.

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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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