Storyteller
Jalisco
100–800
- Medium
- Earthenware and slip
- Dimensions
- 53.1 × 54.5 × 27.3 cm (20 15/16 × 21 1/2 × 10 3/4 in.)
- Genre
- ceramics
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Styles
Tags
mesoamericanamericaswest mexicoancestorsmodeling (forming)earthenwareameca-zacoalcoamecapainting (image making)ceramicspeoplesculptureinorganic materialjaliscoleadersArts of the AmericascolorantPre-Columbianceramicgesturalpigmentart of the americas
About
This energetic figure looks like he is about to tell a really interesting story. Unfortunately, what he sought to communicate is lost to time. In ancient west Mexico, such ceramic figures were used in life and ultimately interred in shaft tombs. Although West Mexican art has at times been overshadowed by Olmec, Maya, and Aztec art, it became popular among US collectors in the mid-20th century. Chicago has been a center for collecting West Mexican art and today the Art Institute stewards many pieces from these important ceramic traditions.
