Figure of a seated musician; Jalisco, Mexico, 200 B.C-200 A.D.

Figure of a seated musician; Jalisco, Mexico, 200 B.C-200 A.D.
Polychrome terracotta.
Measurements: 31 x 18,5 x 14 cm.
Terracotta male figure from Jalisco represented seated playing two rattles with both hands.
both hands. Shaman finely sculpted with headdress and necklace of rings.
The piece belongs to a period of cultural diversification, in which the cultural systems of each people assimilated aspects of Olmec culture. This base will give rise to several of the most important traditions of Mesoamerica, among which those developed in the settlements of Cuicuilco (in the south of the Valley of Mexico) and Chupícuaro (Michoacán) will stand out. The first became the largest city in Mesoamerica, as well as the main ceremonial center in the Valley of Mexico, and maintained relations with Chupícuaro. The decline of Cuicuilco will be parallel to the birth of Teotihuacan, and will be consummated with the eruption of the Xitle volcano, around 150 A.D., which motivated the migration of its inhabitants towards the north of the Valley of Mexico. The Chupícuaro culture is known above all for its pottery production, whose traces have been detected in a wide area located between the Bajío and the lake basin. Towards the end of the Preclassic period we find the beginning of the cities that would become emblematic of Mesoamerica, such as Monte Albán or Teotihuacan.