Whistle Figurine of a Seated Dwarf
Culture: Maya
Period: Pre-Columbian
Date: A.D. 600-800
Place made:Mexico
Medium: Earthenware
Dimensions:
7 × 4 1/2 × 3 in. (17.8 × 11.4 × 7.6 cm)
Credit Line: San Antonio Museum of Art, gift of John and Kathi Oppenheimer
Object number: 2023.7.78
Provenance: Oppenheimer Family, San Antonio, Texas, before 1998 (note 1); John and Kathi Oppenheimer by gift to San Antonio Museum of Art, 2023.
Note 1: This object appears in a photograph of the Oppenheimer collection dated to 1998. It was likely acquired before the photograph was made, and many objects in the Oppenheimer collection were acquired before 1980.
Label Text
This figurine represents a dwarf who is spectacularly attired in a large turban with rosettes. In Maya art, dwarves often appear as companions to royals, trusted in the space of a city’s elite but set apart in their physicality from kings. Holes on the reverse and underside of the figurine suggest that it was likely a whistle; indeed, comparable dwarf figurines in museum collections also have a whistle structure. (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.
