Standing figure

A number of Colima figures appear two-dimensional, in that the volume of the body is greatly flattened while the graceful line of the frontal silhouette is empahsised. This female figure has a head covering with two horseshoe-shaped elements either side; the raised element which peaks at the front loops round the back of the head. Otherwise she is completely unadorned. The black spots present on this figure and other are manganese dioxide deposits. Furst (1966: 265) has argued that these deposits are not the result of long burial, as had been believed, but rather are due to the specific manganese content of clays and slips used in different regions of West Mexico.

Joanne Pillsbury and Ted. J. J. Leyenaar in Steven Hooper (ed.). 1997. Catalogue to the Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection. University of East Anglia.