Seated figure

The photograph forms part of the iconographic apparatus of the volume Museo Nazionale di Antropologia di Città del Messico (Mondadori, 1979), included in the series Musei del Mondo. The texts of the volume were written by Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti and Licia Collobi. The sculpture is reproduced in the catalogue with the following caption (p. 48): Seated figure. 300–600 AD. Terracotta; height 45 cm. From Veracruz. Catalogue no. 4-1776. Probable representation of Chalchiuhcihuatl, goddess of sustenance and fertility, always depicted as a young woman seated cross-legged with her hands resting on her knees. The perforations on the head and in the ears were intended for the insertion of offerings made of precious bird feathers. Fondazione Centro Studi sull’Arte Licia e Carlo Ludovico Ragghianti, Lucca, Photographic Archive, Oriental and Extra-European Art section, folder 4, file Latin America – Pre-Columbian Mexico.