{"secondaryobjectnumber":null,"periodterms":[{"id":2035656,"period":"Late Preclassic"}],"creditline":"Gift of Gillett G. Griffin in honor of David W. Steadman, Graduate School Class of 1969","caption":"Xochipala, Late Formative Period to Early Classic Period, 400 BCE–500 CE, Guerrero, upper Balsas region, Mexico, Mesoamerica, Two seated figures engaged in animated conversation. Ceramic with traces of red and peach slip-paint\r\n; 13.5 cm. Gift of Gillett G. Griffin in honor of David W. Steadman, Graduate School Class of 1969 (y1972-38, 39)","cultureterms":[{"id":2039072,"culture":"Early Classic"}],"type":"artobject","dimensionsproposed":"","terms":[{"id":2055437,"term":"figurines","aatid":300047455,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2049167,"term":"ceramics","aatid":300151343,"termtype":"Classification"},{"id":2088139,"term":"youth","aatid":300025944,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2039072,"term":"Early Classic","aatid":300016984,"termtype":"Culture"},{"id":2090947,"term":"shamans","aatid":300218522,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2035656,"term":"Late Preclassic","aatid":300016976,"termtype":"Period / Style"},{"id":2151023,"term":"sitting","aatid":null,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2055657,"term":"figures (representations)","aatid":300189808,"termtype":"Subject"},{"id":2160750,"term":"ceramic","aatid":300235507,"termtype":"Materials"}],"geography":[{"displaygeography":"Place made: North America, Mexico, Guerrero, upper Balsas region, vicinity of Xochipala","code":"Place made","continent":"North America","subcontinent":"Mesoamerica","country":"Mexico","region":"upper Balsas region","state":"Guerrero","city":null,"county":null,"subregion":null,"locale":"vicinity of Xochipala","locus":null,"river":null,"excavation":null,"geoname":"http://www.geonames.org/3514444/xochipala.html","location":{"lat":"","lon":""}}],"dimensionelements":[{"element":"Overall","type":"Height","units":"centimeters","dimension":"13.50"}],"markings":null,"accessionyear":"1972-01-01","newaccession":0,"makers":[],"datecomputed":50,"signed":null,"restrictions":null,"classification":"Ceramic","packages":[{"packageid":208013,"name":"PUAM_Art of Comprehension"},{"packageid":181974,"name":"web_2020_AAA"},{"packageid":193150,"name":"PUAM_Expressing Culture_Mesoamerican"},{"packageid":194491,"name":"PUAM_Highlights of Mesoamerica"},{"packageid":167646,"name":"web_highlights"},{"packageid":197269,"name":"web_highlights -revised 2021"},{"packageid":197222,"name":"PUAM_Curate Your Own Exibition"},{"packageid":193893,"name":"PUAM_Exploring Family"}],"catalograisonne":null,"classifications":[{"id":2055437,"classification":"figurines"},{"id":2049167,"classification":"ceramics"}],"exhibitions":[],"cultures":[{"id":13844,"culture":"Xochipala","alphasort":"Xochipala","begindate":0,"enddate":0,"displayculture":"Xochipala","displaydate":null}],"primaryimage":["https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/y1972-38-39"],"displaytitle":"Two seated figures engaged in animated conversation","displayculture":"Xochipala","displaymaker":null,"captionhtml":"Xochipala, Late Formative Period to Early Classic Period, 400 BCE–500 CE, Guerrero, upper Balsas region, Mexico, Mesoamerica, <i>Two seated figures engaged in animated conversation</i>. Ceramic with traces of red and peach slip-paint\r\n; 13.5 cm. Gift of Gillett G. Griffin in honor of David W. Steadman, Graduate School Class of 1969 (y1972-38, 39)","displaydate":"400 BCE–500 CE","medium":"Ceramic with traces of red and peach slip-paint\r\n","media":[{"id":7465,"uri":"https://media.artmuseum.princeton.edu/iiif/3/collection/y1972-38-39","isprimary":1,"rank":1,"mediatypeid":1,"mediaviewtype":"(not assigned)","restrictions":null,"caption":"Luna Digitization Project"}],"displayperiod":"Late Formative Period to Early Classic Period","extended_content":true,"campuscollections":"false","bibliography":[{"boilertext":"Gillett G. Griffin, \"Xochipala, the Earliest Great Art Style in Mexico,\" <i>Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society </i>116, no. 4 (August 1972): 301-309","citation":"Gillett G. Griffin, \"Xochipala, the Earliest Great Art Style in Mexico,\" <i>Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society </i>116, no. 4 (August 1972): 301-309, figs. 3 and 4, p. 304 (illus.)","date":1972,"id":2601,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/985900"},{"boilertext":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections </i>(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013)","citation":"<i>Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections </i>(Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013)","date":2013,"id":1994,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/865020505"},{"boilertext":"Carlo T. E. Gay, <em>Xochipala: The Beginnings of Olmec Art</em> (Princeton, The Princeton University Art Museum, 1972).","citation":"Carlo T. E. Gay, <em>Xochipala: The Beginnings of Olmec Art</em> (Princeton, The Princeton University Art Museum, 1972)., figs. 7a–d, pp. 21–23 (illus.)","date":1972,"id":2732,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/382711"},{"boilertext":"<I>10,000 Years of Art</I> (London and New York: Phaidon, 2009).","citation":"<I>10,000 Years of Art</I> (London and New York: Phaidon, 2009)., p. 60 (illus.)","date":2009,"id":2738,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/308158805"},{"boilertext":"Allen Rosenbaum, \"'Gillett and Me': How a Eurocentric Museum Director Learned to Love Pre-Columbian Art,\"&nbsp;<em>Record of the Princeton University Art Museum</em> 64 (2005): 8-19.","citation":"Allen Rosenbaum, \"'Gillett and Me': How a Eurocentric Museum Director Learned to Love Pre-Columbian Art,\"&nbsp;<em>Record of the Princeton University Art Museum</em> 64 (2005): 8-19., fig. 11, p. 16","date":2005,"id":2745,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/3774829"},{"boilertext":"Curt Muser,&nbsp;<EM>Facts and Artifacts of Ancient Middle America: A Glossary of Terms and Words Used in the Archaeology and Art History of Pre-Columbian Mexico and Central America</EM> (NewYork: E. P. Dutton, 1978).","citation":"Curt Muser,&nbsp;<EM>Facts and Artifacts of Ancient Middle America: A Glossary of Terms and Words Used in the Archaeology and Art History of Pre-Columbian Mexico and Central America</EM> (NewYork: E. P. Dutton, 1978)., pl. 26 (illus.)","date":1978,"id":2926,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/4178679"},{"boilertext":"Hugh Honour and John Fleming, <I>A World History of Art</I>, 7th revised edition (London: Laurence King Publishing, 2005).","citation":"Hugh Honour and John Fleming, <I>A World History of Art</I>, 7th revised edition (London: Laurence King Publishing, 2005).","date":2005,"id":218,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/60668528"}],"nowebuse":"False","periods":[{"id":24009,"period":"Late Formative Period","alphasort":"Formative Period, Late","begindate":0,"enddate":0,"displayperiod":"Late Formative Period to Early Classic Period","displaydate":null}],"department":"Art of the Ancient Americas","attribute_groups":[{"id":2199317,"term":"Art of the Ancient Americas","termtype":"Collecting Area"}],"daterange":"A.D. 1-500","dateend":500,"depicted":[],"titles":[{"title":"Two seated figures engaged in animated conversation","titletype":"Primary Title","displayorder":1}],"hasimage":"true","creditlinerepro":"","objectnumber":"y1972-38, 39","inscribed":null,"texts":[{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Provenance","textentryhtml":"<p>\n\tPossibly sold in Mexico by Alberto Ulrich to Gillett G. Griffin (1928-2016), Princeton, NJ [1]; possibly September 19, 1970, sold by Teochita Inc to Gillett G. Griffin (1928-2016), Princeton, NJ; 1972, gift of Gillett G. Griffin to the Princeton University Art Museum.\n</p>\n<p>\n\tNotes:\n\t<br />\n\t[1] According to Gillett Griffin, he acquired this pair from Alberto Ulrich, who brought these pieces from Mexico to the US. There is also a Teochita invoice dated September 12, 1970, in the curatorial file that may match these pieces. It describes Teochita objects ZJ 48 and 49, a “Pair Clay Figures. Xochipala, Guerrero.”\n\t<br />\n</p>","remarks":null},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Gallery Label","textentryhtml":"These two figurines, modeled separately but clearly envisioned as a set, lean forward and gesture as if engaged in an animated conversation. Such expressive posing of otherwise unadorned bodies is exceptionally rare in Mesoamerican art, including among the highly naturalistic Xochipala-style figurines. The smaller figure, an adolescent, exudes curiosity about and admiration for his more mature interlocutor, who responds with the calm patience of a willing and wise mentor. What did the artist imagine the relationship between the individuals depicted to be: father and son, instructor and student, ancestor and nostalgic descendant, or something else?\n","remarks":"AAA1_20-T6-3_CLA_FA_9_17_25.pdf - Day 1 installation"}],"datebegin":-400,"sortnumber":"1972   38y   39","published_date":"2026-02-11 12:08:45.719316","objectid":54926,"dimensions":"13.5 × 11.3 × 11.7 cm (5 5/16 × 4 7/16 × 4 5/8 in.)\r\n11 × 15.4 × 12.1 cm (4 5/16 × 6 1/16 × 4 3/4 in.)","on_view":false}