Jalisco Seated Figure of a Chief, Ameca Style, Protoclassic, circa 100 BC - AD 250

Bram and Elaine Goldsmith, Beverly Hills, acquired in the early 1970s

Male figures of high rank were masterfully sculpted in postures illustrating their prowess as a warrior, ballplayer or wrestler. The figure here rests on his left hand with his musculature pumped from exertion. His alert expression of rimmed eyes and open mouth shows carefully marked teeth.  His body is distinctly painted in reddish-brown and tan areas likely to denote a particular affiliation. Wearing trunks, constricting armbands with tassels, disc earrings, and a close-fitting turban with a central crest secured by crisscrossed ties, he shows the attributes of rank and action. 

For similar figures, see Richard F. Townsend, ed., Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archeology of the Unknown Past, Chicago, 1998, p. 20, fig. 8, cat. no. 116; Sotheby's, New York, December 4, 2020, lot 19; and Jacki Gallagher, Companions of the Dead: Ceramic Tomb Sculpture from Ancient West Mexico, Los Angeles, 1983, Cover.