Ecuadorian figurines: a taste from the Archives

Max DashĂș

abstract stone figurine

Stone female figurine.Valdivia, late 3rd millennium bce.

clay woman with burnished red glaze
reddish clay female with incised dots on torsoThe ancient artists gave much attention to the hair, often placed hands to the belly or breasts and emphasized the vulvic triangle. Notice that the entire lower half of the body is shaped like a vulva --a common theme in South American figurines.

woman with outstretched hands, in reddish clay

Some three thousand years after the Valdivia figurines, Ecuadorian artists had achieved magnificent skill in ceramic sculpture. The Jamacoaque culture, circa 200-800 CE, created many images of praying women and shamans with serpents in ecstatic states.

gorgeously rendered clay figurine of woman with outstretched palms, bare breasted, with headdress
necklaced woman with downstretched arms, standing

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