Kneeling figure

The figure is entirely hand-made (rather than moulded) from light brown sandy clay. The surfaces are smoothed but not burnished (this may be due to over-cleaning) and there are traces of chestnut brown paint on the face. The breasts suggest a female, though genitals are not indicated. The holes in the ears may once have held small ornaments, and there is also a hole in the lower lip, where a lip plug would normally be placed. Although modelled three-dimensionally, this effigy was designed to be viewed from the front or side, since neither the necklace nor the hair line continues round the back. Stylistically this piece is not easy to classify. Olaf Holm (personal communication) suggests that it belongs to the earlier part of the Manteno period (Meggers, 1966:122-31) and comes from the northern region of Manteno territory, where there is some cultural mixing with other coastal styles.

Entry taken from Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection 3 volume catalogue, edited by Steven Hooper (Yale University Press, 1997).