278 - A mother is depicted sitting cross-legged. She is carrying one child straddling her shoulders, holding the top of the child’s head, while another sits cross-legged between her legs. She is adorned with eighteen grandchildren depicted in relief on her arms, shoulders, and back. The heads of the mother, the two main children, and the multitude of grandchildren display the classic conical shape characteristic of Colima culture, which may represent shamanic knowledge.

A mother is depicted sitting cross-legged. She is carrying one child straddling her shoulders, holding the top of the child’s head, while another sits cross-legged between her legs. She is adorned with eighteen grandchildren depicted in relief on her arms, shoulders, and back. The heads of the mother, the two main children, and the multitude of grandchildren display the classic conical shape characteristic of Colima culture, which may represent shamanic knowledge. Beige terracotta with black oxidation marks. Mexico. Pacific Coast civilization. State of Colima. Tuxcacuesco-Ortices style, Preclassic period, 300–100 B.C. Height: 17 cm. (Broken and repaired) Provenance: Galerie Deletaille, Brussels (according to the 1986 insurance inventory, illustrated) Private collection, Brussels, acquired from the previous owner in 1970 Passed down through the family Publications: “Motherhood in Primitive Arts,” Société Générale de Banque, Brussels, May 13–June 30, 1977, no. 98. "Offerings for a New Life: Funerary Sculptures from Pre-Columbian Western Mexico," Ethnographic Museum, Antwerp, June 6–September 6, 1998, curated by Mireille Holsbeke and Karel Arnaut, reproduced as no. 57.