Figure of a Seated Chieftain

100 BCE–250 CE

Nayarit
Lagunillas area, Nayarit, Mexico

Large terracotta figures were made to accompany the remains of high-ranking people in ancient West Mexican tombs. Figures are often found in male-and-female pairs, likely commemorating the marriage of the deceased. Nayarit artists also depicted other major rites of passage, such as the presentation of a baby, the initiation of warriors and chiefs, young women reaching the age of courtship and marriage, and funerary rites. Such tomb figures testified to the earthly status of the deceased, qualifying the individual as a venerable ancestor-spirit expected to intercede with cosmic forces on behalf of the living community.

Status: On View, Gallery 136
Department: Arts of the Americas

Culture: Nayarit
Title: Figure of a Seated Chieftain
Place: Nayarit state (Object made in)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 100 BCE–250 CE
Medium: Ceramic and pigment
Dimensions: 71.8 × 33 cm (28 1/4 × 13 in.)
Credit Line: Ada Turnbull Hertle Endowment
Reference Number: 1998.503
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/151359/manifest.json

Richard Townsend, “Figure of a Youthful Chieftain,” Notable Acquisitions at the Art Institute of Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 29, 2 (2003), 6–7 (ill.).
Richard Townsend with Elizabeth Pope, Indian Art of the Americas at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2016), 156-157, cat. 132 (ill.).

Leonard Kaplan, Ancient Art, Laguna Beach, CA, by 1968 [this and the following according to notarized statement by L. Kaplan, July 6, 1998, copy in curatorial object file]; sold to Proctor Stafford, Los Angeles, CA, 1968; given to his sister, Barbara L. Hinton, Palm Springs, CA, 1971 [notarized statement by B. Hinton, May 4, 1998, copy in curatorial object file]; sold to Claudia Giangola and John Menser, Ancient Art of the New World, New York, 1998 [Incoming permanent receipt RX22067, July 24, 1998, copy in curatorial object file]; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1998.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.