D. Daniel Michel, Chicago, acquired in 1971 (in🍌ve♏ntory no. 71:163)

Ancient Art of the New World, New York, acquired ༺from the above

American Private Collection, acquired in 1991

This cream-slipped figure of the Lagunillas style evokes the intense pain and suffering of mourning rites. He sits hunched over and cross-legged, the cheeks swollen with scarification, and his hands resting on his knees as he holds a vessel in his right hand. This receptacle probably represents a cup of pulque, the drink that was consumed during mourning. The rectang𓆉ular ears are pierced for removable or perishable earrings and the 🌳shorts typically worn by Nayarit men are partly delineated on this figure.

Lagunillas is a sub-style from the Nayarit region and figures of this style are notable for their smooth burnished surfaces, painted ornament, and emotive expressions. Nayarit figures commonly represent musicians, ancestral couples, family members, or ballplayers. This emotive aged figure sits in a static pose yet his expression attests to the great skill of Nayarit artists. See Butterwick, Heritage of Power: Ancient Sculpture from West Mexico, New York, 2004, pp. 34-45; also see Townsend, ed., Ancient West Mexico, Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past, Chicago, p. 289, cat. no. 216, for🔥 the mourning figure typ🌱e.