Nayarit Seated Female Figure with Bowl, Lagunillas Type B, Protoclassic, circa 100 BC - AD 250

John Huston, St Clerans, Craughwell, County Galway, and California, acquired during the 1940s - 1970s
Andy Williams, California, acquired from the above on June 25, 1985
Andy and Deborah Williams, California

The mournful figure shows an advanced stage of ritual purification, leaning on her raised left knee and holding a small bowl in her right hand containing the remains of the substances she consumed. Her drawn face shows her closed eyes, upturned nose, and deeply puckered mouth; she is adorned with delicate painted necklaces and the sharp shoulders have rows of raised cicatrice tattoos. Her poignant expression is enhanced by the highly burnished deep red slip. 

Figures of this version of Lagunillas Type B are frequently shown with ritual vessels; see Jacki Gallagher, Companions of the Dead: Ceramic Tomb Sculpture from Ancient West Mexico, Los Angeles, 1983, p.120, figs. 154-155 for the type.