Olmec. <em>Seated Figure with Arms Raised to Head</em>, 1200-300 B.C.E. Ceramic, white-slipped, red pigment, 12 x 8 1/2 in. (30.5 x 21.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Caroline A.L. Pratt Fund, 75.40. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.75.40_view1.jpg)

Olmec. Seated Figure with Arms Raised to Head, 1200-300 B.C.E. Ceramic, white-slipped, red pigment, 12 x 8 1/2 in. (30.5 x 21.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Caroline A.L. Pratt Fund, 75.40. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.75.40_view1.jpg)

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Has this guy been pieced back together? Is the belly button missing, or was is used to store something?

Yes, there are definitely repairs to it—you spotted the cracks!

Can you walk around it to see the raised markings on its back? You might also notice traces of cinnabar, a reddish mineral pigment!

That navel opening is actually a cleverly placed "firing hole," which allowed moisture to escape during firing.

Can you tell me something about this?

Do you see the belly button of this Olmec figure? This was actually a cleverly placed "firing hole"; clay vessels need an opening to allow moisture to escape during firing.

This is one of the oldest objects in Visible Storage! The Olmec are considered the "mother culture" of Mesoamerica. Their art styles and iconography would come to influence many later cultures from the region.

Seated Figure with Arms Raised to Head

Arts of the Americas

On View: Luce Visible Storage and Study Center, 5th Floor

CULTURE Olmec

MEDIUM Ceramic, white-slipped, red pigment

Place Made: Xochipala, Mexico

DATES 1200-300 B.C.E.

PERIOD Early Formative Period

DIMENSIONS 12 x 8 1/2 in. (30.5 x 21.6 cm) (show scale)

COLLECTIONS Arts of the Americas

ACCESSION NUMBER 75.40

CREDIT LINE Caroline A.L. Pratt Fund

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Chubby figure seated with legs tucked under the body and arms raised with hands touching head. Traces of cinnabar found all over figure. The figure wears a helmet-like headdress with a chevron band running down the center, and there are two raised rectangular relief decorations on the figure's back. There are circular openings (losses?) under the figure, each arm, stomach, and at the back of the head. Condition: Good; U.V. light reveals repairs to the stomach, right shoulder, left leg, left arm, pelvic area and back, and the back of head.

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Luce Visible Storage and Study Center, 5th Floor

CAPTION Olmec. Seated Figure with Arms Raised to Head, 1200-300 B.C.E. Ceramic, white-slipped, red pigment, 12 x 8 1/2 in. (30.5 x 21.6 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Caroline A.L. Pratt Fund, 75.40. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, CUR.75.40_view1.jpg)

IMAGE front, CUR.75.40_view1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2014

"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.

RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY

You may download and use Brooklyn Museum images of this three-dimensional work in accordance with a Creative Commons license. Fair use, as understood under the United States Copyright Act, may also apply. Please include caption information from this page and credit the Brooklyn Museum. If you need a high resolution file, please fill out our online application form (charges apply). For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org.

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