Two Zacatecas Figures, Protoclassic, 100 BC - AD 250

Male Figure:
David Stuart, Los Angeles, by 1967
Sidney Newman, Los Angeles, acquired from the above
Edwin & Cherie Silver, Los Angeles, acquired from the above on May 5, 1968

Female Figure:
Stendahl Galleries, Los Angeles
Edwin & Cherie Silver, Los Angeles, acquired from the above in 1970

Male inventoried by Hasso von Winning, November 2, 1972, no. 95; female figure inventoried March 28, 1970, no. 8

Zacatecas figures are considered by many to be the most stylized and celebrated of the paired figures of West Mexico. Found in the northeastern Jalisco-Zacatecas region, this distinctive subgroup was probably produced for only a few generations. Their extreme form is highly consistent, depicted with the stark pierced eyes, thin looped arms, and red and cream slip paint. They are also of feather weight compared to other West Mexican types. The male figures have a unique hairstyle in which the hair was wrapped around upright supports giving the appearance of mushroom-like stalks. Pairs typically wear identical ornaments such as the serrated earrings of this couple. The male taps his drum and the openwork mouths of both figures give the appearance of chanting participation.

See Kan, Meighan, and Nicholson, Proctor Stafford Collection, 1970, figs. 39-42; and Holsbeke and Arnaut, Offerings for a New Life, 1998, fig. 88.