What is most notable at first glance is the magnificent combination of a largely schematized anatomic volume and a complex and varied pictorial treatment. The canons of the art of the shaft tomb culture suggest it could be a depiction of a high-ranking woman, which accompanied her in her final and supposedly permanent resting place, an underground burial architectural space. In the classification of the Lagunillas style proposed by Hasso von Winning, the sculpture corresponds to the C variant, as the head has an inverted and rounded triangular shape, the hair is smooth and not incised, the forehead is broad and the ears plate-shaped. The arms are thin, with no hands, and fused to the body. There is no indication of any genitalia, and the face and body paint are distinctly asymmetrical.
In this stylistic variant, there are few pieces that exhibit decorative painting of this kind. In addition to this, I can only identify one pair of male religious figures, so it is reasonable to assume that its production was limited to a very short period of time, a single workshop or even the same artist. Although unique, it is a typical piece given that the deep introspection it manifests and the color palette are characteristic of the Lagunillas style, known as “chinesco” because of the “meditative” appearance of its human images, and also because of the seated position with legs bent backwards and the hands placed on the abdomen. This is one of the principal formulas for portraying women, in particular with attributes of conception, in the art of this culture.
The head is large. The face has traits that deviate from those of a real face, and it could almost be called cartoonish given the exaggeration or oversimplification of the factions. However, the facial deformities go unnoticed unless the work is examined in detail. Ultimately, what dominates is the introspective nature of the woman. In profile, the head exhibits a pronounced oblique tabular deformation which, along with the erect tabular deformation, is notable in skulls found in shaft tombs. The hair appears short, as is usual in Lagunilla pieces. In this case, it was painted a solid black color. The nose is extremely broad, with very large lobes and nostrils. By contrast, the mouth is small (barely a slit) with a slight upward curve. It also has no chin, although the pronounced inward angle is only noticeable when viewed from the side
In my view, optimal proportions were used to highlight the most important aspect of the cultural context in which it was produced: cranial deformation as an attribute of a high status, which is further emphasized by the lack of a chin. On the inverted triangular-shaped, whitish-colored face the most striking aspect is the area of the eyes because of their pictorial decoration in black on red, and both the nose and large ears were able to be adorned with independent objects placed in the holes in the septum and the lobes. It is almost certain that various hoops, perhaps made of shell, were used as nose rings and earrings. The thin arms also have circular holes just below the level of the breasts, to which bands could be tied as bracelets.
The sophisticated pictorial treatment of the figure does not allow for a clear identification of what is skin, ornamental painting, or perhaps clothing. As I see it, the red generally functions here as natural skin color, and the black and white as body paint, although there is a possibility that the three colors in the midsection of the body embody a kind of cape, and that the black on white in the genital area portrays another garment.
The black paint in the area of the eyes evokes a mask in which the scant eyes appear to be closed. The upper frame is formed by the eyebrows marked with fine vertical incisions and a line of triangular shapes below it. The neck, like most of the face and the ears, was painted white, with a choker outlined in black paint. On the red of the skin, the elongated torso was covered with groups of short vertical lines. The breasts are small black cones with white nipples. This is followed by a striking composition based on triangular shapes with circles inside them arranged in two strips. In them, without altering the succession of designs in the slightest, they highlight the arms stuck to the body and bent at an angle at the elbows without distinguishing the hands, thus giving the impression that they are covered by a garment. However, a stylistic feature of this variant are the arms fused to the body, which could well be interpreted as body paint.
At the end of this long and ornate torso, legs can be seen in the red color that alludes to the skin. They are bent backwards, although the end part of the extremities appeared was shaped as a smooth volume. This synthesis contrasts with the detailed pictorial treatment the body has on its rear view. One further observation: in profile the back appears noticeably bent (possibly an attribute of old age) in which case the image would be that of an old woman.
What is most notable at first glance is the magnificent combination of a largely schematized anatomic volume and a complex and varied pictorial treatment. The canons of the art of the shaft tomb culture suggest it could be a depiction of a high-ranking woman, which accompanied her in her final and supposedly permanent resting place, an underground burial architectural space. In the classification of the Lagunillas style proposed by Hasso von Winning, the sculpture corresponds to the C variant, as the head has an inverted and rounded triangular shape, the hair is smooth and not incised, the forehead is broad and the ears plate-shaped. The arms are thin, with no hands, and fused to the body. There is no indication of any genitalia, and the face and body paint are distinctly asymmetrical.
