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I have come across an interesting clay figurine. I was told it's pre-colombian, coming somewhere from Mexico region.
Unfortunately it's not in a good shape as one hand and head decoration are broken off. It also doesn't look like being made by a very skilled sculptor (but what do I know). Legs of the figurine are shortened on purpose and it seems like the figurine was made to be placed in a standing position. The back has no details at all.

Is there any way to say if it's a real antique and maybe pinpoint the geographical origin and time period more precisely?

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ADDITIONAL IMAGES Head decoration missing

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UPDATE
Tl;dr: I got the statue at the antique shop in Paris.

The long story is, I was in Paris 4 years ago and saw a very intriguing bronze statue in a small antique shop. It was calling me to buy it somehow. I didn't have my wallet with me that day and returned the next day. But... it was 1st of May and all shops were closed. Next day I was on an airplane home.
I had dreams about that statue, tried calling the owner, wrote him e-mails, but I got no answer.
This year I returned to Paris with my family and before we saw Eiffel tower I took them to that antique shop. The shop was still there, but the statue was gone, ofcourse. Just when I wanted to leave, I heard the well known call from the top shelf in the right corner. There was this clay figurine... and now I'm here, trying to find out more.
The old owner of the shop spoke very little English and all I could understand was "pre-colombian" and "Mexico". I think he also didn't know much more.

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    Where did you obtain it?
    – Steve Bird
    Commented Nov 11, 2021 at 16:43
  • @SteveBird Added short and long version of the answer to the original question.
    – AljosaH
    Commented Nov 11, 2021 at 20:31
  • I have added some additional images to point out the missing head and waist decoration. I have also added image with how the figurine could look like with missing pieces still attached.
    – AljosaH
    Commented Nov 12, 2021 at 9:55

1 Answer 1

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I found an article showing a picture of two somewhat similar figurines that are identified as being from Tlatilco in central Mexico in the 1500-500 BC timeframe.

enter image description here

Can you tell if yours has a belly-button indent? It almost looks like I'm seeing a worn one in the picture.

Other similarities I'm seeing are the way the lips and eyelids are made to stick out, the band(headband?) across the brow like in the right figurine in this picture, the wide flappy ears (like the left figurine) and the seeming lack of interest in depicting arms.

Of course what I don't know is what the counterfeit market in Mexico likes to make. With its proximity to American tourists, there has to be one.

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    It's very faint, but the belly-button could really be there, it's just that the hole got filled up over years. Great discovery, I couldn't see it before, but now when I know what I'm looking, it's pretty obvious.
    – AljosaH
    Commented Nov 11, 2021 at 20:37
  • It would be interesting to know, what is the round thing it's holding in the hand.
    – AljosaH
    Commented Nov 11, 2021 at 20:38
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    @AljosaH - Perhaps it's a disc-shaped stone used in game of Chunkey. - en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chunkey OR a bowl for ritual.
    – SwiftPushkar
    Commented Nov 11, 2021 at 21:41
  • @SwiftPushkar Very interesting theory. That would make figurine much younger (according to Wiki, Chunkey started around 600 CE) and moive it's origin to the North America. If the other hand would still be attached and holding a spear then it could be confirmed. However, after doing some googling, I couldn't find native american figurine that would match this style.
    – AljosaH
    Commented Nov 12, 2021 at 9:52
  • I have added some additional images to point out the missing head and waist decoration. I have also added image with how the figurine could look like with missing pieces still attached.
    – AljosaH
    Commented Nov 12, 2021 at 9:55

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