Jalisco Warrior

The Miller Family Collection, Chicago, acquired by 1972 (listed in the April 25, 1972 appraisal of the collection)

Thence by descent to the present owner

Art Institute of Chicago, Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past, September 5 - November 22, 1998, additional venue: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, December 20, 1998 - March 29, 1999

Richard Townsend, ed., Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past, Chicago, 1998, p. 291, cat. no. 134

The warrior-rulers class are a prominent category of West Mexican figural sculpture, attesting to the importance of both ceremonial, ritual warfare and small-scale raiding of adjacent communities. The ‘warrior ceremonialism’ of Jalisco figures is standardly shown with this readied stance of deeply bent legs and holding a spear in a defensive posture. Never facing frontally, figures are turned in an active pose, nestled within the protective chest armor, shown here with thick padded belt and tab attachments. Calm and fearless, the figure looks upward beneath his conical helmet with a central crest. 

Cf. For similar examples see Kristi Butterwick, Heritage of Power, Ancient Sculpture from West Mexico, The Andrall E. Pearson Family Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2004, pp. 46-47, cat. nos. 6 and 7.