# Smiling Figurine

- By: Japan
- Date: c. 1000–300 B.C.
- Medium: Earthenware
- Classification: Sculpture
- Dimensions: 11.5 × 9.6 × 3.9 cm (4 1/2 × 3 3/4 × 1 1/2 in.)
- Culture: Japan
- Credit line: Purchased with Funds Provided by the Weston Foundation; President's Exhibition and Acquisition Fund
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/200701)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/ad758057-6f54-2dad-c5b9-7646826ed756/full/!1685,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Figurines from the Jomon period (about 14,000-300 BCE) have been found in greater numbers than figural representations from Neolithic China or Korea (about 10,000-1500 BCE). Though roughly executed, this figurine exudes human expression. Scholars have found a large number of these figurines, suggesting that they played an important role in Japan’sritual life at the time–something we don’t know much about.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0