Woman in a Turtle Shell
Culture
Classic Veracruz
Dateabout 600–900 CE
Mediumceramic
Dimensions28 x 17.8 x 12.1 cm (11 x 7 x 4 3/4 in.)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineEliza S. Paine Fund in memory of William R. and Frances T. C. Paine
Terms
Object number1964.8
Descriptionlow-fired clayLabel TextPotters from southern Veracruz, on the Gulf Coast, developed a unique tradition of figurative ceramic sculptures and figurines between 600 and 900 C.E. Most are known from a burial mound at the site of El Zapotal, which was excavated in the 1970s. It contained a scene presided over by the Lord of the Underworld seated on a throne, next to wall paintings and a procession of life-sized female figures wearing snake belts and complex headdresses. This figure—particularly her round earspools (plugs) and the long skirt encasing her legs— resembles the female sculptures of El Zapotal, but she does not wear the same elaborate headdress or snake belt. The close association of the human and animal here is also reminiscent of another sculpture from El Zapotal in the collection of the Museo de Antropología de Xalapa in Mexico, which represents a man carrying a jaguar on his back. The wildcat is thought to depict the man’s animal spirit or possibly reenact a mythical scene, which might also be the case here.
On View
Not on view
