Decoding Narrative in Ceramic Sculpture from West Mexico

In 1972 Hasso von Winning described Late Formative and Early Classic ceramic sculpture from West Mexico as “anecdotal” providing a glimpse into the social lives of their creators. Over the past fifty-one years scholars have offered a number of varying interpretations of West Mexican ceramic sculpture suggesting, for example, that they depict shamans in the mist of spiritual battle, highly regarded ancestors, elites adorned in insignia of status, or an endless variety of social and ritual activities. Few of these interpretations attempt to take into account the entire corpus of ceramic figurines and multi-figure tableaus by asking what, if any, patterns can be found by doing so? This paper presents preliminary research that takes a holistic approach to the study of West Mexican visual culture. Through an examination of a large number of ceramic sculptures, along with the application of a thematic approach which has proven useful to scholars working in other areas of the Americas, what emerges is a tradition that depicts a limited number of narrative themes. West Mexican ceramic narratives, which are most fully depicted in multi-figure tableaus, take place in actual architectural spaces such as ceremonial circles and ball courts, and are populated by a reoccurring cast of characters that are also represented as individual figurines. This presentation articulates new methods used to decode West Mexican ceramic sculpture, initial conclusions, and possible implications for our understanding of West Mexican ritual, performance and society.