Art Institute of Chicago
Model Depicting a Ritual Center
Ceramist unknown (Nayarit)
- Date
- 100–800 CE
- Medium
- Earthenware and pigment
- Culture
- Nayarit state
- Department
- Arts of the Americas
- Institution
- Art Institute of Chicago
In West Mexico, chiefdoms and statelike societies flourished between A.D. 100 and 800. Advanced agriculture, extensive trade routes, and elaborate religious festivals echoed developments in other regions of ancient Mesoamerica. The distinctive West Mexican sculptures were often included as offerings in tombs that illustrate important themes of life and the afterlife. This model of a circular ceremonial center depicts houselike temples, populated by flute players, a drummer, conch-shell trumpeters, dancers, women with children, and animals. A masked figure—likely the ruler—stands atop the central stepped pyramid.
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- Object type
- AAT300301253
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