Standing figure "cara sonriente", Late Classic, ca. 600 - 900 AD ·  Mexico, Veracruz · ID: 3053308

Description

ceramic, rest., base

The significance of these figures - the only cheerful depictions within the otherwise blood-soaked Olympus of the ancient Mexican pantheon - remains unclear. One hypothesis suggests that they represent young people under the influence of intoxicants who, as part of a fertility ritual, joyfully anticipate their sacrificial death and the associated existence in a better afterlife. Many of these figures were also ritually broken.

Comparing literature

Leyenaar, Ted et al., Von Küste zu Küste, n.p. 1992, p. 125

Notices

This object is subject to the Cultural Heritage Protection Act. Export documents are required for export (subjected to a fee).