Sonrientes like this one are unable to stand on their own, and are too large to be held in the hand. In contrast, the back is entirely unadorned, suggesting that the figure was meant to be seen only from the front. All this detailing appears on the front of the figure. Additional traces of black paint on the skirt indicate a two-dimensional design once overlaid that in low relief. Thin red lines drawn below the eyes and the chin, and traces of the black tar paint often used in the region (see MMA 1978.412.59) on the chest represent body paint or tattooing. Musicians are depicted playing similar rattles in ceremonial scenes from both Veracruz and the Maya area. He raises his right hand as though in greeting and clutches a gourd rattle in his left.
Nude from the waist up, this sonriente wears a cap and skirt covered in geometric patterns, circular earspools, and a beaded necklace and bracelet.
The animated expression that is responsible for their name is surprising in Mesoamerican art, where emotion of any kind is rarely depicted.
Smiling figures (called sonrientes in Spanish) are one of the most intriguing examples of Mesoamerican ceramic artistry, part of a long-standing tradition of hollow ceramic figures produced in south-central Veracruz throughout the Precolumbian period.