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Exhibition Browse: West Mexico - Ritual and Identity

This exhibit examined and interpreted the art and artifacts of the shaft tomb culture that flourished in West Mexico 300 BC-500 AD, bringing together the most current research from the field, scientific laboratories and objects to re-create life, death and ritual.

With large scale murals of these settlements complementing the objects on display, the exhibition examined the various forms of sculpted vessels, paying particular attention to the human forms, which tell a rich story of a culture predating the more widely known Aztecs, but equally as fascinating and arguably more influential.

41 Items
Image Title Creator Culture Accession # Materials/Techniques
Comala style, polished red olla depicting a bowl or basket of zapotes Mesoamerican; West Mexican 54.1713 clay, burnished red slip
Ixtlan del Rio hollow ceramic figure of seated male with fan in hand Mesoamerican; West Mexican 54.1716 clay, slip, paint
Ixtlan del Rio hollow ceramic figure of seated female with bowl at shoulder Mesoamerican; West Mexican 54.1717 clay, slip, paint
Ixtlan del Rio hollow ceramic figure of seated female with nursing infant Mesoamerican; West Mexican 54.1720 clay, slip, paint
Nayarit styled seated male figure with negative painted design, possibly depicting skin pathology on body decoration Mesoamerican; West Mexican 54.3460 clay, slip, paint
Comala style standing dog vessel with ear of corn in mouth Mesoamerican; West Mexican 54.3471 clay, red slip
Tripod composite jar with multiple nodes around perimeter Mesoamerican; West Mexican 54.3489 clay, burnished red slip
Comala style ceramic vessel with multiple sculpted faces around perimeter Mesoamerican; West Mexican 54.3722 clay, red and black slip
Comala style ceramic vessel with multiple squashes around perimeter Mesoamerican; West Mexican 54.3725 clay, burnished red slip
Ixtlán del Rio hollow figure standing male warrior Mesoamerican; West Mexican 54.3729 clay, slip, paint
Figura Masculina Sentada Unknown Mesoamerican; Colima 54.3739 clay, slip, paint
Tuxcacuesco-Ortices style, a "Teco" variant, solid human figurine Mesoamerican; West Mexican 54.3747 clay, paint
Tuxcacuesco-Ortices style, a "Teco" variant, solid human figurine Mesoamerican; West Mexican 54.3748 clay
Two headed solid, Tuxcacuesco-Ortices style, human figurine Mesoamerican; West Mexican 54.3764 clay
Ixtlan del Rio style hollow ceramic human figure Mesoamerican; West Mexican 54.3894 clay, slip, paint
Ixtlan del Rio style hollow seated female figure carrying a bowl at her right shoulder Mesoamerican 54.3933 clay, slip, paint
In the style of an Ixtlan del Rio style hollow seated male and female ceramic conjoined pair possibly Mexican 54.3944 clay, slip, paint
San Sebastian style hollow ceramic human figure Mesoamerican; West Mexican 54.4023 clay
Ixtlan del Rio style hollow male musician playing a rasp Mesoamerican 54.4032 clay, slip, paint
Male ceramic effigy with hollow construction in Ixtlan del Rio style Mesoamerica 54.4045 Earthenware