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Seated female effigy figure

250 B.C.–250 A.D.
Object PlaceNayarit, Mexico
Medium/TechniqueEarthenware with slip paint and negative-resist painting
DimensionsOverall: 21.6 x 13.2 x 18.4 cm (8 1/2 x 5 3/16 x 7 1/4 in.)
Credit LineFrank B. Bemis Fund
Accession number2015.2220
On View
On view
ClassificationsCeramics
Collections
ProvenanceProbably by the 1950s or 1960s, and certainly by 1972 [see note], Vincent Price (b. 1911 – d. 1993) and Mary Grant Price (b. 1917 – d. 2002), Los Angeles; May 15, 2003, consigned by the estate of Vincent and Mary Price, Sotheby’s, New York, lot 233. May 15, 2015, anonymous (“private western collection”) sale, Sotheby’s, New York, lot 55, to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 24, 2015)

NOTE: Actor Vincent Price and his wife Mary built up an extensive art collection in the 1950s and 1960s. They divorced in 1974, after which Mrs. Price kept this object until her death in 2002. According to information provided by her estate to Sotheby’s, their collection had been formed by 1972. Handwritten notes supplied by Sotheby’s further suggest that this figure had been acquired by the 1960s.

Human female effigy
100 B.C.–A.D. 250
Jar
A.D. 500–1550
Jar
A.D. 500–1550
Miniature jar
50 B.C.–A.D. 300
Tripod cylinder
A.D. 1–550
Cache vessel
A.D. 300–550
Group shot: 1988.1250 (top), 1988.1242 (bottom)
A.D. 300–550
Dish
A.D. 700–800
Cylinder vase
A.D. 650–850