  About the Artwork
  
  
  The cultures of west Mexico buried their dead in shaft-chamber tombs accompanied by a variety of ceramic offerings. The tombs, often as deep as fifty feet, were prepared in advance and signs of reuse suggest they functioned as family crypts. Numerous effigy figures representing family members or servants were placed in the tombs to assist the deceased as their counterparts had done in life. This large, hollow female effigy figure represents the Chinesco style, distinguished by an emphasis on naturalism and oriental-like facial features. Small red designs decorate the body, probably representing body paint or tattoos.
  
  
  Title
  Kneeling Female Effigy Figure
  
  
  Artwork Date
  between 1st century BCE and 1st century CE
  
  Artist
  ----------
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  ----------
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  Precolumbian
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
  Nayarit
  
  
  Medium
  Terracotta and pigment
  
  
  Dimensions
  Overall: 10 7/8 × 6 1/2 × 5 1/2 inches (27.6 × 16.5 × 14 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Sculpture
  
  
  Department
  Indigenous Americas
  
  
  Credit
  Gift of Mr. W. Hawkins Ferry
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  1984.33
  
  
  Copyright
  Copyright Not Evaluated
