Female Captive

Maker: Unknown

A.D. 600–900

Art of the Ancient Americas

On view, 1st floor, Art of the Ancient Americas

Complete nudity is rare in Maya art. Adorned only with a necklace and bracelets, this muscular young woman may be either a noble captive who has been stripped of clothes and headdress or one of the maidens who serve the Maize God.

Medium

Ceramic with pigment

Dimensions

9 × 3 1/4 × 2 13/16 in. (22.8 × 8.3 × 7.1 cm)

Credit Line

Gift of the Olsen Foundation

Accession Number

1958.15.9

Geography

Mexico

Culture

Mexico, probably Campeche, Jaina Island, Maya

Period

Late Classic Period

Classification

Sculpture

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
With Stable Gallery, New York and Alfred Stendahl Gallery, Los Angeles, 1956 (Stendahl inv. no. 3580) [see note 1]; sold to Florence Quittenton Olsen (1899–1996) and Fred H. Olsen (1891–1986), Guilford, Conn., February 17, 1956 (Olsen inv. no. 79); given to Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 1958

Note 1: Stendahl ledger book, Stendahl Art Galleries records, circa 1880-2003, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2017.M.38, and invoice, Stendahl Gallery, Los Angeles, July 20, 1956, copies in curatorial file
Bibliography
  • Mary E. Miller et al., Fiery Pool: The Maya and the Mythic Sea, eds. Daniel Finamore and Stephen D. Houston, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Peabody Essex Museum, 2010), 58, no. 11, ill.
  • Susan B. Matheson, Art for Yale: A History of the Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2001), 166, fig. 163
  • Elise K. Kenney, ed., Handbook of the Collections: Yale University Art Gallery (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 1992), 318, ill.
  • George A. Kubler, ed., Pre-Columbian Art of Mexico and Central America (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 1986), 136–37, 298, no. 302, fig. 153
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
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