# Figure of a Woman in Ceremonial Dress

- By: Veracruz, Classic (Veracruz, south-central Gulf Coast, Mexico)
- Date: 700–900
- Medium: Ceramic
- Classification: Sculpture
- Dimensions: H.: 35.6 cm (14 in.)
- Culture: Southern Veracruz
- Credit line: Harold L. Stuart Fund
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/110317)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/0c401d87-c860-17b8-678a-4b9ae85ca758/full/!1500,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

In the afterlife, it was the role of deceased noble ancestors to communicate with the deified forces of nature on behalf of their people. Presented as offerings at ancestral shrines, mold-made figures of this kind were sometimes reshaped while the clay was still moist to give them more individualized facial features.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0