Ancient Ceramic Figures

Depictions of ancient ceramic figures from various cultures, showcasing unique craftsmanship, styles, and forms of human representation.

Standing female figure, late 19th century, 11 1/2 × 3 1/16 × 3 9/16 in. (29.21 × 7.78 × 9.05 cm) (with base), Wood, Angola, 19th century

ESCULTURA ETRUSCA - BUSTO POLYVISCERAL - INTESTINO.

Seated Male Figure 2nd-4th century Nayarit (Chinesco). Seated Male Figure. Nayarit (Chinesco). 2nd-4th century. Ceramic. Mexico, Mesoamerica, Nayarit. Ceramics-Sculpture

Seated female figurine. Culture: Cypriot. Dimensions: H. 4 1/8 in. (10.5 cm). Date: ca. 600-480 B.C..The figurine is handmade and solid. The face was made from a worn mold. The figure is not fully seated, but is oriented obliquely, leaning backward. Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.

Figure: Male 18th-19th century Tabwa peoples This work is a pair with 1978.412.591.This elegant and refined couple from the Lake Tanganyika region of southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo depicts the respected ancestors of a Tabwa ruler. During the mid-nineteenth century, a group of elite Tabwa families who prospered through regional trade challenged traditional forms of governance and assumed control of regional leadership. These new Tabwa rulers looked to ancestry to legitimize their right to lead, invoking and, when necessary, inventing a chiefly lineage through sculptural representations of royal predecessors. A new genre of figural sculpture was developed to depict these chiefly ancestors. Passed down from one generation to the next, these works were visual representations of enduring dynastic power.The legitimacy of the chiefly family's rule depended upon its perceived superiority within the community, and ancestral sculptures such as this couple were intended to reinforce th

Female Dancer (Tomb Figurine). China. Date: 206 BC-75 BC. Dimensions: 16.7 × 11.5 × 9.6 cm (6 9/16 × 4 1/2 × 3 3/4 in.). Gray earthenware with slip coating and polychrome pigments. Origin: China. Museum: The Chicago Art Institute, Chicago, USA.

Ceramic Mother and Child Figure 12th-9th century B.C. Tlatilco. Ceramic Mother and Child Figure 317817

Head fragment Ptolemaic Period 332-30 BC In the area of Ptolemaic brick vaulted tombs in the Lower Assasif at Thebes were found many terracottas. They are only very roughly datable to this period. This head has a pointed beard and wears a large festival wreath around his cranium. The head shows traces of red and white paint. View more. Head fragment. 332-30 BC. Pottery, paint. Ptolemaic Period. From Egypt, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Asasif, foot of Hatshepsut Causeway, Lower Cemetery area (Birabi), MMA excavations, 1915-16

Nenfro statue of a winged lion ca. 550 B.C. Etruscan Several statues of this type, made from nenfro, a kind of volcanic stone used extensively at Vulci, depict winged lions and sphinxes. These were set up to protect the entrances to subterranean chamber tombs covered by a tumulus (earthen mound). They often appear in pairs and represent the Etruscan response to a long tradition of guardian figures stretching back to ancient Egypt and the Near East.. Nenfro statue of a winged lion. Etruscan. ca. 550 B.C.. Nenfro. Archaic. Stone Sculpture

Marble statue of female deity or mother goddess

ARTE AFRICANO. PRINCIPIOS S. XX. NIGERIA. FIGURA MASCULINA que REPRESENTA UN ESPIRITU DE LA NATURALEZA (EDJO) en forma de guerrero. Pueblo Urhobo. Museo de Arte Nelson-Atkins (The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art). Kansas City. Estado de Missouri. Estados Unidos.

Figure, 20th century, 11-1/4 x 4-1/8 x 4 in. (28.6 x 10.5 x 10.2 cm), Wood, Angola, 20th century

Male Figure 3rd century B.C.-A.D. 4th century Chupicuaro. Male Figure 313170

Polychrome terracotta statue depicting dancing priest wearing headdress from Bahia de Caraquez, 5th century B.C.-5th century A.D.

The Buddhist Goddess Hariti with Children. Pakistan, Swat Valley, Butkara I area, Gandhara region, circa 1st century B.C.. Sculpture. Gray phyllite

Figures, before 1921. Colombia, 18th-19th century. Red ware; overall: 21 x 17.2 cm (8 1/4 x 6 3/4 in.).

Mvwala Staff, Congo African Art Wood Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika, Tervuren, Belgium

Kneeling figure with hands behindhead. Artist: Unknown

Terracotta acroterial statue of Typhon the "Father of All Monster". From Gabii, 6th century BC. National Museum of Rome, Baths of Diocletian, Rome.

Ceramics depicting the stages of life (3rd c. AD). Childbirth. Moche or Mochica Art. PERU. LAMBAYEQUE. Sipn. Royal Tombs of Sipn Museum.

Statue of Bes. Roman period. 1st century AD. White marble. From Colonna, Latium. Barraco Museum. Rome.

MaleFigure

MaleBust

Statuette of a Lyre Player with a Companion; Unknown; Greece, Crete, Europe; 690 - 670 B.C.; Bronze; Object: H: 11.5 cm (4 1/2 in.)

Altar figure (onílé), possibly 1700s. Africa, West Africa, Nigeria, Yorùbá-style maker. Copper alloy; with base: 34.3 x 10.8 x 25.4 cm (13 1/2 x 4 1/4 x 10 in.); without base: 31.3 x 10.8 x 25.4 cm (12 5/16 x 4 1/4 x 10 in.).

Pottery torso Olmec, 1200-400 BC. This torso, has a headdress crowned with a crest of a raptorial bird, possibly a harpy eagle ( harpya). Birds of prey were considered solar creatures.

Wooden figure of a sea spirit, with head in the form of a shark, from the Solomon Islands. Artist: Unknown

Standing Figure. Culture: Chupicuaro. Dimensions: H. 15 7/8 x W. 7 1/2 in. (40.3 x 19.1 cm). Date: 3rd century B.C.-A.D. 1st century. Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.

Zemi (Idol) Urn Taino Culture Pre-Columbian Wood Santo Domingo, Garcia Arevado Foundation

Mayan architectural detail of a face, from a façade in calcified rock. Yucatan, Mexico 600-900 AD

Harpokrates ca. 712-30 B.C. Late Period-Ptolemaic Period. Harpokrates 571359

escultura antropomorfa, museo de la plaza central, Chichicastenango ,municipio del departamento de El Quiché, Guatemala, Central America.

Seated Male Figure. Culture: Aztec. Dimensions: Overall: 7 1/2 x 3 1/2 x 4 1/4 in. (19.05 x 8.89 x 10.8 cm)Other: 3 1/2 x 4 1/4 in. (8.89 x 10.8 cm). Date: 15th-early 16th century. Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.

Xochiquetzal, Aztec Goddess of love and beauty. Mexico, 1325-1521 AD. Sculpted from volcanic rock

Terracotta standing human figure ca. 1725-1450 B.C. Cypriot The figurine is handmade and solid. The figure has probably become detached from a vessel.. Terracotta standing human figure. Cypriot. ca. 1725-1450 B.C.. Terracotta; hand-made. Middle Cypriot III or Late Cypriot I. Terracottas

Marble female figure. Culture: Cycladic. Dimensions: H. 10 3/4 in. (27.3 cm). Date: 2300-2200 B.C..The remains of an ancient repair are of special interest. The head had broken from the long thin neck. A channel was cut into the sides of the neck and the head and then filled with lead. This technique was an established means of joining pieces in the first millennium B.C. The repair thus may be contemporary with the piece or date from more than one thousand years later. Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.

Zoomorphic or anthropomorphic Mayan figurine. From Palenque, Mexico 600-900 AD

Tadpole. "Portrait load of Alcide Touz (1809-1850), actor". Plaster on porcelain base. Paris, Carnavalet museum. 72100-21 French actor, plaster, portrait, porcelain base

Ancestor Pair 1st century B.C.-A.D. 3rd century Ixtlán del Río These large, hollow ceramic male and female figures, joined at the shoulders and hips, are thought to represent important ancestors of an ancient West Mexican community. The male is seated cross-legged, and wears a cape or mantle with a slip-painted pattern. His loincloth features an attached, scoop-shaped genital protector. He wears a conical hat with a zig-zag design and a lower fringe, and holds aloft a rattle or conch shell in his right hand. The female sits with legs extended and wears a full-length skirt with traces of an elaborate design. Her left arm is adorned with a band featuring five round elements and she holds small bowl up to her chest. Prominent nose and ear ornaments grace both figures. Some two thousand years ago, the inhabitants of communities in what is now the modern Mexican state of Nayarit buried their revered dead in in one-to-five meter deep shaft-and-chamber tombs in hilltop cemeteries. These tombs

Seated Male Shaman Figure, 20th century, 17-3/4 x 4-7/8 x 4-3/8 in. (45.1 x 12.4 x 11.1 cm), Wood, pigment, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 20th century

Footsoldier, one of a pair, 2nd century BCE, 18 1/2 x 6 5/8 x 6 1/4in. (47 x 16.8 x 15.9cm), Earthenware with traces of pigment, China, 2nd century BCE

Seated Figure, before 1921. Colombia. Red ware; overall: 23.2 x 15.3 cm (9 1/8 x 6 in.).

Mask 200 BCE-300 CE Mexico, Gulf of. Serpentine . Olmec

Ifugao culture sculptures, The anitos, (hipagi), Luzon Island, 19th century, wood, Anthropology National Museum, Madrid, Spain.

Rain Dragon. Anonymous. Japan, early 19th century. Costumes; Accessories. Wood with sumi

Jar, double ca. 1550-1295 B.C. New Kingdom. Jar, double. ca. 1550-1295 B.C.. Pottery, paint. New Kingdom. From Egypt, Upper Egypt, Thebes, Asasif, Temple of Hatshepsut, Carnarvon/Carter excavations. Dynasty 18

Vessel, 1930, 10 5/8 x 4 5/8 x 6 in. (26.99 x 11.75 x 15.24 cm), Terra cotta, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 20th century

Diosa de la fecundidad japonesa. Museo Etnológico de Barcelona.

Fragment of a partly unfinished limestone statuette of a silen ca. 330-30 B.C. Cypriot. Fragment of a partly unfinished limestone statuette of a silen 242324

'Stucco mask, Maya late classic'. Museum: MUSEO ARQUEOLOGICO, Mexico D. F., CIUDAD DE MEXICO.

Benin figure in Bronze; Nigeria; West Africa 1500-1700 AD

Maponus' a Celtic god associated with Apollo - head, 2nd century. Artist: Unknown

Amulet of the Goddess Sekhmet. Egyptian. Date: 1550 BC-664 BC. Dimensions: 5.2 × 1.4 × 1.6 cm (2 1/16 × 9/16 × 5/8 in.). Faience. Origin: Egypt. Museum: The Chicago Art Institute, Chicago, USA. Author: Ancient Egyptian.

Head and Torso of a Dancing Figure 401 CE-700 CE Japan. Haniwa (literally ìclay ringsî) were made as funerary sculptures for Japanese nobility. Unlike Chinese tomb figures, which were buried with the deceased in underground chambers, haniwa were placed on the surface of earthen grave mounds. Rows of haniwa, partially submerged in the soil for stability, outlined the sacred contours of a burial site or were set up at its front. This head and torso of a male figure appears to be dancing, perhaps a common event at funeral ceremonies.. Earthenware .

Marble female figure 3200-2800 B.C. Cycladic The figure wears a headdress; on later works, the headdress is painted rather than incised. The pairs of holes in the neck and right leg are ancient repairs from which the "clamp," of metal or another material, is missing.. Marble female figure. Cycladic. 3200-2800 B.C.. Marble. Early Cycladic I. Stone Sculpture

Standing Male Figure. Late Classic Maya, Jaina; Campeche or Yucatán, Mexico. Date: 650 AD-800 AD. Dimensions: H. 15.6 cm (6 1/8 in.). Ceramic and pigment. Origin: Campeche. Museum: The Chicago Art Institute, Chicago, USA.

Basalt figure of the Wind God Ehecatl Aztec, AD 1300-1521

Stone Age clay statue, 3ft high, 6000BC found in Amman.

ETTLE ". Bronze. Shang dynasty. Paris, Cernuschi museum. 157046-5 Asian art, Chinese art, bronze, shang dynasty, tip

anthropomorphic idol, 2600-2300 BC, ivory, Perdigoes, Reguengos de Monsaraz, Évora, Portugal, Huelva Museum, Huelva, Andalusia, Spain.

Netsuke of Fukurokujin with Tall Head and Two Children Climbing on It. Culture: Japan. Dimensions: H. 2 1/4 in. (5.7 cm); W. 5/8 in. (1.6 cm); D. 1 in.(2.5 cm). Date: 19th century. Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.

Statuette of a Boxer. Unknown

Female Figure 3rd century B.C.-A.D. 4th century Chupicuaro. Female Figure 313161

POSTE DE LA CASA DE LOS ANTEPASADOS-MELANESIA/ISLAS SALOMON-S XIX-MADERA-ARTE TRIBAL. Location: MENIL COLECCION. HOUSTON-TEXAS.

Cuchimilco. Male figure. Chancay. Peru. 1000-1450 DC. Museum of Cultures of the World. Spain.

ESTATUILLA ANTROPOMORFA EN TERRACOTA 500 A 1500 DC. Location: PRIVATE COLLECTION. QUITO. ECUADOR.

Head of a Bearded Man. Unknown

Terracotta figure of a grotesquely deformed and twisted man. Dated 1st Century BC

Funerary urn brought to Teotihuacan from Oaxaca, by Zapotec who settled in a barrio near city, National Museum of Anthropology, INAH, Mexico

Female Figure

Olmec Colossal Head, National Museum Museo Nacional de Antropologia, Mexico City, Mexico, Central America

Ceramic female figures from Ecuador. Dated 1st Century

Pre-Columbian Art. Inca. Chavin culture. Anthropomorphic ceramic. San Marcos Museum. Peru.

Biche of Balazote, detail. Iberian Culture. Androcephalous bull. End of the 6th century, early 5th century BC. Limestone. From Balazote (Albacete province, Castile-La Mancha, Spain). National Archaeological Museum. Madrid. Spain.

fine arts, Africa, Benin, sculpture, dwarf of Oba, bronze, classical period, 17th century, Museum od Ethnology, Vienna,

Mexico, Federal District, Mexico City, Museo Nacional de Antropologia Urn 100 BC-200 AD from Monte Alban.

Lima, Peru. Pre-Columbian artifacts and art in the Larco Museum, Lima, Peru.

Attic Red-Figure Dimidiated Rhyton. Unknown

Temple Period (3600 BC to 2500 BC). Malta. Headless seated statue depicting a woman with a voluminous body. National Museum of Archaeology. Valletta. Malta.

Kneeling Woman withChildren. Artist: Unknown

Isis nursing Horus on throne supported by striding lions. Dimensions: H. 2.7 × W. 0.8 × D. 1.6 cm (1 1/16 × 5/16 × 5/8 in.). Date: 664-30 B.C..This tiny amulet of Isis with the Horus child is intricately worked and dextrously undercut. The goddess sits on a throne with lions at either side, and uraei along its rear. Museum: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.

Joined Figures, 200 BCE - 400 CE, 11 x 9 in. (27.9 x 22.9 cm), Clay, Mexico, 2nd century BCE - 5th century CE, Like their neighboring Nayarit and Colima cultures, the Jalisco had a tradition of sculpting male-female pairs. The exact nature of this couple's animated interaction is not certain but has been interpreted variously as singing, talking, or embracing. Their headdresses, earrings, nose ornaments, armbands, and the scarification on their cheeks are likely indicators of their elevated status in Jalisco society.

Spain, Madrid, Archeological Museum, Biche of Balazote

Stone statue of seated Mother Goddess, from the Temple of Hagar Qim

Female Figure with Incised Features and Triangular Head 100 BCE-300 CE Nayarit state. Ceramic and pigment . Nayarit

Aquilla, Warrior () 7th-10th century Tiwanaku. Aquilla, Warrior () 315427

France, Paris, Musee du Quai Branly museum, Hampatong figure, Borneo, Indonesia, 20th century

Two figures in a scene of childbirth ca. 600-480 B.C. Cypriot Both figures are handmade and solid. The face of the larger figure was made in a worn mold, and is flat and rough. One female figure holds another, supporting her in childbirth.. Two figures in a scene of childbirth 240996

Joined Couple

Mayan Atlante (Caryatid figure) from Chichen Itza, limestone, ancient post-classic era (900 - 1250 CE),

Male figure (nkisi nkondi), late 1800s-early 1900s. Democratic Republic of Congo or Cabinda (Angola), Kongo artist and nganga (priest). Wood, metalized glass, iron, organic material, ivory or plastic, and natural fiber; overall: 46 x 25.7 x 19.2 cm (18 1/8 x 10 1/8 x 7 9/16 in.).

Unesco World Heritage Site Monte Alban, Oaxaca, Mexico, Central America, Ancient statue of a man with detailed headdress on a pedestal against a grey background, Mitla, Central America

Mayan incense burner representing the god of the Sun in the underworld. Ceramic from Tacotalpa, Tabasco, Mexico 600-900 AD

Mayan ceramic tripod vase with seated figure inside; ; Classical period in the Teotihuacan style 250-600 AD. Becan, Campeche, Mexico

Mexico, Chiapas, Palenque. Mayan plaster mask; Palenque Ruins Museum (Editorial Usage Only)

Wooden model of grinding grain. 1st Intermediate Period-Middle Kingdom. Dynasty XI-XII (c. 2050-1947). Tomb of Shemes. From Asyut. Egyptian Museum of Turin. Italy.

Old Maid of the Village Switzerland Folk Art Artist Unknown

Mesoamerica. Male figure. Veracruz. Gulf of Mexico. 300-900 BC. Mexico. Museum of Cutures of the World. Barcelona. Spain.

Figure of Harpy 12th-early 13th century The harpy, or fantastic human-headed bird, was a common motif in many parts of the Muslim world. In Iran it was adapted in the twelfth century as a motif on wares in a variety of media. This example is unusual for its large size.. Figure of Harpy. 12th-early 13th century. Stonepaste; luster-painted on opaque white glaze, molded and applied decoration. Made in Iran. Ceramics

Zaō Gongen, 1100s. Japan, Heian period (794-1185). Gilt bronze with repoussé and incised details; overall: 25.8 x 17.8 cm (10 3/16 x 7 in.).

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