New photography by Shannon Ruff captured with a digital camera-2006.

Deformed Infant

Artist Unknown

CultureMexican | Olmec | Pre-Columbian | Xochipala

Dateca. 1500 B.C.

MediumCeramic

DimensionsOverall: 11 in. (27.9 cm)

Credit LineThe Chrysler Museum purchase, Landmark Communications Fund

Object number80.149

Collections

Ancient American Art

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 105

DescriptionDeformed (hunchback) infant of orange ceramic with a calcium deposit patina. Hollow figure with humped chest and back; bulbous nubbins substitute for arms, legs. Head thrown back, lower jaw protrudes, flattened forehead, bulge on top of head. Open mouth has 5 articulated upper teeth; sinister eye is pierced; wearing scalloped helmet or hair; pierced earlobes. Naval hole and another firing hole on bottom.
From Xochipala village, Guerrero, west Mexico.

Published ReferencesChrysler Museum. _Selections From the Permanent Collection: The Chrysler Museum_. Norfolk, VA: Chrysler Museum of Art. 1982: p. 19.