Storyteller
Jalisco
100–800 CE
Medium
Earthenware and slip
Dimensions
55.9 × 55.9 cm (22 × 22 in.)
Classification
ceramics
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
73795
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This energetic figure looks like he is about to tell a really interesting story. Unfortunately, what he sought to communicate is lost to time. In ancient west Mexico, such ceramic figures were used in life and ultimately interred in shaft tombs. Although West Mexican art has at times been overshadowed by Olmec, Maya, and Aztec art, it became popular among US collectors in the mid-20th century. Chicago has been a center for collecting West Mexican art and today the Art Institute stewards many pie...