Whistle Figurine of a Standing Dwarf
Culture: Maya
Period: Pre-Columbian
Date: A.D. 600-900
Place made:Mexico
Medium: Earthenware
Dimensions:
4 1/4 × 1 7/8 × 1 3/4 in. (10.8 × 4.8 × 4.4 cm)
Credit Line: San Antonio Museum of Art, gift of John and Kathi Oppenheimer
Object number: 2023.7.80
Provenance: Oppenheimer Family, San Antonio, Texas, before 1980 (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 printed in November 1980 (date appears on the reverse of the photograph).
Label Text
In Maya art from the Late Classic period (approximately 600-900 A.D.), male figures with dwarfism appear in painted scenes as actors in the realm of the royal court. They attend to rulers within a Maya city's elite spaces, but they are set apart from kings in both their physicality and status. As figurines, males with dwarfism often take the form of a whistle. Here, two openings on the reverse speak of this function. An opening at the base would accomodate a musician's lips, while a second opening just above allowed the whistle to sound. Here, the figure wears a cut shell pectoral, large earflares, an adornment extending the line of the nose along the forehead, and a headdress that was once larger but has now fragmented. Only the front of the figurine features such description; the reverse is plain. (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.
