Ball Player
Place made:Colima, Mexico
Place made:Jalisco, Mexico
Culture: Colima
Date: 200 B.C.-300 A.D.
Medium: Earthenware
Dimensions:
h. 7 1/4 in. (18.4 cm)
Credit Line: San Antonio Museum of Art, gift of John and Kathi Oppenheimer
Object number: 2023.7.28
Provenance: John and Kathi Oppenheimer, San Antonio, Texas, before 2021 [note 1]; John and Kathi Oppenheimer by gift to San Antonio Museum of Art, 2023.
Note 1: The Oppenheimer collection was largely acquired before 1998. However, this work does not appear in collection photographs of 1980 or 1998.
Label Text
With a brawny stature and broad stance, this figurine wears costume elements that suggest it represents a player of the Mesoamerican ballgame. Played across millennia and in a number of distinct but related cultural contexts, the ballgame was a tradition that many ancient Mesoamerican cultures shared in common. This early representation of a ballplayer includes typical attire such as a wide, wrapped belt (or yoke) and a helmet. Relatively flat in form, scholars sometimes use the term "gingerbread" to refer to figurines of this style, known as Tuxcacuesco-Ortices, from the border region between the West Mexican states of Colima and Jalisco. (Kristopher Driggers, 2024)
Not on view
In Collection(s)
The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.
This resource has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the Human Endeavor.
