Female Figure 10th century B.C. Tlatilco This solid, hand-modeled ceramic figurine is buff in color with traces of red and white face paint. The breasts are depicted as small pellets and a naval is only slightly indicated. The wide hips, bulbous thighs, and large buttocks terminate in rudimentary appendages, as do the short, splayed arms. Incisions on the back of the head indicate a female coiffure, with a single braid extending down the back. Large earplugs and a thick coil necklace are the figures only adornments. Sculpted some three millennia ago in the Valley of Mexico, this figurine belongs to a group of ceramic effigies known collectively as the Tlatilco "pretty ladies." Depicting females with large heads, small waists, and prominent hips, these handheld sculptures present a fairly standardized body type and are typically fired to red, buff, or brown tones. As the popular embodiments of an ideal feminine form, the Tlatilco "pretty ladies" are part of a centuries-long tradition i