Seated warrior figure

100 BCE–250 CE
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General Description

During the Late Formative period (200 BCE-300 CE), modeled representations of warriors were common in the visual arts of cultures that once occupied the modern-day states of Colima, Nayarit, and Jalisco. Identified by their body armor and helmets, the warriors are depicted either sitting or standing, and wielding a weapon or shield. While their function remains uncertain, such hollow clay figurines were often placed in funerary contexts. Particular to these early cultures of western Mexico, deceased individuals were often interred in deep shaft tombs dug down into the earth. Within this funerary context, the dynamic warrior figurines, with their martial poses and accoutrements, served the deceased, perhaps as tomb guardians.

Excerpt from

Carol Robbins, Label text [1958.42; 1973.51], A. H. Meadows Galleries.