Detail View: The AMICA Library: Seated Figure

Time, insects, and moisture have destroyed most Precolumbian sculpture in wood, but a handful of objects have miraculously survived. This wood figure probably owes its existence to the sturdy dry walls of a chamber, perhaps a tomb, where in ancient times it was placed, protecting it from the tropical environment in which it is said to have been found. The noble bearing of the figure clearly bespeaks a personage of importance. He sits with legs and feet tucked under him and wears a fringed kilt, or hip cloth, tied in place by a fancy belt knotted at the waist. Another belt of the same pattern is worn over the shoulders, stole fashion. Suspended from the neck is a carefully detailed mask, and the ear ornaments are very grand. They consist of three large circular earflares bound together to form a chain that ends in a dramatic, long-nosed profile head. The full, curled-up mustache is unusual. The figure has been dated by the radiocarbon method to the sixth century.