Seated Figure 12th–9th century Olmec This seated figure likely represents an infant gazing upward and raising its right hand to its mouth. The artist of this baby worked in a fine, white clay to produce a hollow figure subsequently decorated with a white slip and red pigment. Without marked gender and seated with splayed legs and its hands on its thighs, the figure has the posture, body proportions, and fleshiness of a human baby, though symbolic designs embellishing its body and a distinctive headdress distinguish it from a mere pudgy figure is one of the best examples of thi

Seated Figure 12th–9th century Olmec This seated figure likely represents an infant gazing upward and raising its right hand to its mouth. The artist of this baby worked in a fine, white clay to produce a hollow figure subsequently decorated with a white slip and red pigment. Without marked gender and seated with splayed legs and its hands on its thighs, the figure has the posture, body proportions, and fleshiness of a human baby, though symbolic designs embellishing its body and a distinctive headdress distinguish it from a mere pudgy figure is one of the best examples of this class of human figures displaying characteristics of well-fed children, the so-called Olmec “babies.” The body of the baby was careful modeled to indicate realistic folds of skin and subcutaneous fat, evoking themes of abundance and plentiful resources. The face displays non-mortal characteristics, such as the stylized eyes, downturned mouth, and squared ears. The left portion of the figure’s back contains iconographic elements, such as crossed bands and crosshatching, possibly representing tattooing or scarification. This example is distinguished by its elaborate headpiece colored red-pink with powdered cinnabar and red ochre, that was probably used to anoint the tomb in which this figure was babies share some iconographic and stylistic characteristics with the monumental sculpture from the Gulf Coast Olmec centers of San Lorenzo and La Venta, but seem to have only been produced during the earlier Olmec florescence between about 1200 and 800 This figure is reported to be from the central highland site of Las Bocas, in the Mexican state of Puebla, where a number of Olmec-style ceramic objects have been found. Others have been found in burial contexts at the sites of Tlapacoya and Tlatilco, in the Basin of Mexico near modern-day Mexico City. Researchers encountered a well-known pair of sculpted individuals—nicknamed “the twins”—in Burial 12, Off

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