This charming and well-sculpted zoomorphic
vessel was made at the end of the first
millennium BC to the early days of the first
millennium AD. The subgroup that
manufactured the piece are called the Colima,
who are part of a group of archaeological
cultures – known almost purely from their
artworks – referred to as the Western Mexico
Shaft Tomb (WMST) tradition. There are many
distinct groups within this agglomeration, and
their relationships are almost totally obscure
due to the lack of contextual information.
However, it is the artworks that are the most
informative, as we can see from the current
piece.
The vessel would seem to be somewhat
impractical, for although it was doubtless able
to hold liquids (probably maize beer) it is likely
to have had another function, probably votive,
funerary or ritual. It depicts a highly stylised
dog with round eyes seated on his hind legs.
The head of the dog is surmounted by the
funnel-top neck and mouth of the vessel. The
limbs are very short, matching a small and
pointed tail that protrudes at the back of the
piece. The whole vessel has a glossy patina
from considerable handling and perhaps
libations.
There are many distinct groups within the
agglomeration referred to as the Western
Mexico Shaft Tomb (WMST) tradition, foremost
among them the Jalisco, Nayarit, and Colima.
Their relationships are almost totally obscure
due to the lack of contextual information.
However, it is the artworks that are the most
informative. All of the cultures encompassed
under the WMST umbrella were in the habit of
burying their dead in socially-stratified burial
chambers at the base of deep shafts, which
were in turn often topped by buildings.
Originally believed to be influenced by the
Tarascan people, who were contemporaries of
the Aztecs, thermoluminescence has pushed
back the dates of these groups over 1000
years. Although the apogee of this tradition
was reached in the last centuries of the 1st
millennium BC, it has its origins over 1000
years earlier at sites such as Huitzilapa and
Teuchitlan, in the Jalisco region. Little is
known of the cultures themselves, although
preliminary data seems to suggest that they
were sedentary agriculturists with social
systems not dissimilar to chiefdoms. These
cultures are especially interesting to students
of Mesoamerican history as they seem to have
been to a large extent outside the ebb and
flow of more aggressive cultures – such as the
Toltecs, Olmecs and Maya – in the same
vicinity. Thus insulated from the perils of
urbanization, they developed very much in
isolation, and it behooves us to learn what we
can from what they have left behind.
The arts of this region are enormously variable
and hard to understand in chronological terms,
mainly due to the lack of context. The most
striking works are the ceramics, which were
usually placed in graves, and do not seem to
have performed any practical function
(although highly decorated utilitarian vessels
are also known). It is possible that they were
designed to depict the deceased – they are
often very naturalistic – although it is more
probable that they constituted, when in
groups, a retinue of companions, protectors
and servants for the hereafter. More abstract
pieces – such as reclinatorios – probably had a
more esoteric meaning that is hard to
recapture from the piece.
The current piece falls within the Colima style,
which is perhaps the most unusual stylistic
subgroup of this region. Characterised by a
warm, red glaze, the figures are very
measured and conservative, while at the same
time displaying a great competence of line.
They are famous for their sculptures of obese
dogs, which seem to have been fattened for
the table. Colima reclinatorios are also
remarkable, curvilinear yet geometric
assemblages of intersecting planes and
enigmatic constructions in the semi- abstract.
The current piece, however, is in many
respects more socially valuable than the
aforementioned, as it portrays not only
naturalistic aspects of Colima lifestyle, but also
something of the nature of their society.
Ancient artworks are valuable for many
reasons, but perhaps the most appealing is the
manner in which they allow the modern
onlooker to have a glimpse into a totally alien
lifeway, and also as to how these distant
periods have influenced cultures in the present
day. For instance, the zooarchaeological record
indicates that dogs were not fat merely
through being over cared- for; it has become
increasingly apparent that dogs were on the
menu in most Native American populations.
Further, the abstractionist tendency displayed
in the construction and depiction of this dog
has enormous resonance for modern art
movements, where the eye moved away from
the merely depictive and exaggerated the
aspects of the subject that were important to
the sculptor. In this piece, the naturalism of
which the Colima were perfectly capable has
been replaced by a sense of aesthetics that
summons up the essence of what was being
portrayed with both evocation and affection.