Tomb Guardian in Form of Pensador (Seated Thinker)700–1600 CE

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Ceramic figurine of a seated human figure with closed eyes, painted in red-orange, gray-black, and cream with geometric surface decoration and a hollow opening at the crown

Title: Tomb Guardian in Form of Pensador (Seated Thinker)
Culture: Middle Cauca
Place Made: Colombia, Middle Cauca Valley (Late Period)
Date Made: 700–1600 CE
Medium: Earthenware with resist-painted slip
Dimensions: 9 1/4 × 5 1/8 in. (23.5 × 13 cm)
Credit Line: The Muñoz Kramer Collection, gift of Camilla Chandler Frost and Stephen and Claudia Muñoz-Kramer
Accession Number: M.2007.146.296
Classification: Ceramics
Collecting Area: Art of the Ancient Americas
Curatorial Notes: Sitting cross-legged, eyes half-closed as if deep in thought, this figure and others like it produced in ancient Colombia have been interpreted as “thinkers” (pensadores in Spanish). They show male and female figures seated in pensive poses, some chewing coca leaves (see M.2007.147.101, .105, .126). Pensadores represent spiritual leaders who achieve deep contemplation or trance through meditation or with the help of potent plant substances, a practice that remains widespread among the Indigenous communities of Colombia. These knowledgeable persons are responsible for conceiving, understanding, and maintaining balance in the world. In the words of Arhuaco elder Jaison Pérez Villafaña, “To sit is an invitation to the synchrony of energies.”

Although the purpose of LACMA’s sculpture is unknown, it is easy to imagine as a guardian or spirit guide made for the tomb of a deceased individual. The hollow body is decorated all over with geometric designs painted using a negative resist technique. Holes in the ears and nose would once have been adorned with real metal jewelry, probably separated from the ceramic figure by the original looter who found it somewhere in the highlands of southern Colombia long before it made its way into the museum’s collection.

Julia Burtenshaw

2024
Selected Bibliography: Burtenshaw, Julia, Héctor García Botero, Diana Magaloni, and María Alicia Uribe Villegas. The Portable Universe = El Universo en tus Manos: Thought and Splendor of Indigenous Colombia. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2022.

Tomb Guardian in Form of Pensador (Seated Thinker)700–1600 CE

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Title: Tomb Guardian in Form of Pensador (Seated Thinker)
Culture: Middle Cauca
Place Made: Colombia, Middle Cauca Valley (Late Period)
Date Made: 700–1600 CE
Medium: Earthenware with resist-painted slip
Dimensions: 9 1/4 × 5 1/8 in. (23.5 × 13 cm)
Credit Line: The Muñoz Kramer Collection, gift of Camilla Chandler Frost and Stephen and Claudia Muñoz-Kramer
Accession Number: M.2007.146.296
Classification: Ceramics
Collecting Area: Art of the Ancient Americas
Curatorial Notes: Sitting cross-legged, eyes half-closed as if deep in thought, this figure and others like it produced in ancient Colombia have been interpreted as “thinkers” (pensadores in Spanish). They show male and female figures seated in pensive poses, some chewing coca leaves (see M.2007.147.101, .105, .126). Pensadores represent spiritual leaders who achieve deep contemplation or trance through meditation or with the help of potent plant substances, a practice that remains widespread among the Indigenous communities of Colombia. These knowledgeable persons are responsible for conceiving, understanding, and maintaining balance in the world. In the words of Arhuaco elder Jaison Pérez Villafaña, “To sit is an invitation to the synchrony of energies.”

Although the purpose of LACMA’s sculpture is unknown, it is easy to imagine as a guardian or spirit guide made for the tomb of a deceased individual. The hollow body is decorated all over with geometric designs painted using a negative resist technique. Holes in the ears and nose would once have been adorned with real metal jewelry, probably separated from the ceramic figure by the original looter who found it somewhere in the highlands of southern Colombia long before it made its way into the museum’s collection.

Julia Burtenshaw

2024
Selected Bibliography: Burtenshaw, Julia, Héctor García Botero, Diana Magaloni, and María Alicia Uribe Villegas. The Portable Universe = El Universo en tus Manos: Thought and Splendor of Indigenous Colombia. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2022.