Set of wake figures, ceramic
Attributed to Timoteo Aguilar.
Mexico, Oaxaca, Ocotlán
Collected by George M. and Mary L. Foster, 1958.
3-15760/73b
This set of 19 hand-painted ceramic figures depicts a wake, a central ritual of traditional Mexican culture. A self-conscious form of folk art, these figures were made for sale to tourists, and were popularized in the 1950s by influential collectors such as Nelson Rockefeller. This particular genre was created by Doña Isaura Alcántara Díaz, based on traditional pottery incense burners that she sold in the local market. In turn, she taught the style to her five daughters, along with their husbands and three brothers.
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