Female Captive

A.D. 600–900

Ceramic with pigment

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

Gift of the Olsen Foundation

1958.15.9

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.

Culture:

Mexico, probably Campeche, Jaina Island, Maya

Period:

Late Classic Period

Classification:

Sculpture

Status:

On view

Provenance:

Purchased from Alfred Stendahl gallery, Los Angeles California March 1, 1957OR Stable Gallery, New York, Feb. 17, 1956

Bibliography:

Handbook of the Collections, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 1992), 318, 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.

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.

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 such records is ongoing.