Something that is very common in Tlatilco pottery, and especially in the Manantial phase, is popular realism and the emotional exuberance of the repertoire. Dance, game, grief, acrobatics, among other resources displayed, highlight the enormous freedom of postures and manners. The impression given, when comparing the Tlatilco repertoire with the subsequent set of Mesoamerican art, is that at that early stage creative freedom was enormous. This situation only survived in Western Mesoamerica in the later stages. It is as if the regulated ceremonialism of the hereditary and bureaucratic kingdoms of the Classic onwards had imposed a codification in the representation of the human figure that suffocated the freedom of the artist. The standardized pictographic schemes that characterize the gestural language of later Mesoamerican art are also not fully present in Tlatilco, and in the Preclassic in general.
This figure corresponds to a type of anthropomorphic image in which mouth, eyes and nose are resolved with linear strokes. The mouth is a scrape in the fresh mud, as are the eyes. The eyes also have a puncture mark. The ears are also accompanied by a puncture that suggests that the earrings were intended to be represented. Arms and hands, extremely long to allow them to be folded and adhered to the body, are formed with cylindrical mud strips, folded and compacted with pastillage. The headdress was also made with pastillage, formed with a strip, like a headband, that crosses the forehead and whose ends fall backwards, over the neck, and with two additional strips that ascend from one side and the other to crown the top of the head. If we removed the strips of the headdress, a severe cranial deformation would be visible. What we cannot know is whether this bulge was only a resource planned for the formation of the headdress, or if indeed the head was conceived with that strong deformation.
The piece shows the typical combination of engobes, ocher-cream and red, which, as has been mentioned on the corresponding sheets for other pieces in this collection, was recurrent in Middle Preclassic ceramics, especially in the Valley of Mexico, although it is also noted in the Balsas River basin. The combination favors the sensation of color of the body. In this piece, as in many others rather simple and rustic pieces from Tlatilco, there is no polishing after firing, so that the surface is rather rough.
Something that is very common in Tlatilco pottery, and especially in the Manantial phase, is popular realism and the emotional exuberance of the repertoire. Dance, game, grief, acrobatics, among other resources displayed, highlight the enormous freedom of postures and manners. The impression given, when comparing the Tlatilco repertoire with the subsequent set of Mesoamerican art, is that at that early stage creative freedom was enormous. This situation only survived in Western Mesoamerica in the later stages. It is as if the regulated ceremonialism of the hereditary and bureaucratic kingdoms of the Classic onwards had imposed a codification in the representation of the human figure that suffocated the freedom of the artist. The standardized pictographic schemes that characterize the gestural language of later Mesoamerican art are also not fully present in Tlatilco, and in the Preclassic in general.
