Nayarit Standing Figure with Spear, Ixtlán del Río Style, Protoclassic, 100 BC - AD 250

Ed Primus Gallery, Los Angeles
Joseph Haddad, Los Angeles
Edwin and Cherie Silver, Los Angeles, acquired from the above on October 9, 1972

Inventoried by Hasso von Winning, November 2, 1972, no. 97

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past, September 5, 1998 - November 22, 1998, continuing to
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, December 20, 1998- March 29, 1999

Hasso von Winning, The Shaft Tomb Figures of West Mexico, Los Angeles, 1974, p. 150, fig. 220 
Richard F. Townsend, ed., Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past, Chicago, 1998, p. 24, fig. 14, cat. no. 199

The Silver collection has two of the finest examples of Ixtlán del Rio style "warrior"  figures in full regalia. Figures brandishing clubs or batons are one of the most important and frequently depicted types next to family couples within all of West Mexican styles. This figure and preceding lot 36 are wearing the peaked headdress with stiff spiked brim versus the bi-horned helmet style. 

While seemingly warriors in action, the figures may commemorate ritual warfare or institutionalized conflict and thus proclaim a rite of passage for powerful local chiefs. Townsend described "warrior ceremonialism" and the seasonal timing of conflicts (Townsend, Ancient West Mexico, 1998, pp. 113-114). The Aztecs initiated warfare after a harvest after which victorious young warriors were initiated through sacrificial rites during the subsequent planting season. 

This figure holds a long spear pointed at both ends, decorated with clinging strips of animal pelt at the center. Of particular note is the back armor rising up behind the shoulders, most likely an animal pelt with the pair of curving projections representing  legs. This specialized backrack or armor is a type rarely depicted, seen on only two other figures (von Winning, Pre-Columbian Art, 1968, color plate 184; Holsbeke and Arnaut, Offerings for a New Life, 1998, cat. no. 66). He wears the classic short trunks with a scoop loincloth secured by a prominent conch shell and his chest is boldly painted with concentric squares framing circles. The face is covered in black resist circular designs and nearly obscured by the oblong nose ornament attached through the septum. His gritting teeth are shown recessed in the mouth. 

For a seated warrior with spear of the fringed headdress type, see von Winning, Shaft Tomb Figures, 1974, fig. 226.