The Colima 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.
All of the cultures encompassed under the WMST nomenclature
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.
Characterized 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.
This lovely vessel shows a figure who is
human from the waist up and a gourd below. The
breasts of the person protrude enough to
suggest a female, though the face is more
masculine. The arms are held tightly to the sides
and appear to be bound by a series of bracelets
around the middle portion, though these
probably represent ornaments. He or she
appears to be rising from the gourd, perhaps as
a spirit or deity of the plant kingdom. The gourd
itself is very nicely fashioned with delicate ridges
and slightly varying coloration. Though mythical
in conception there is something very endearing,
and yet mysterious about this vessel. It is this
contrast which makes an object a work of art,
along with its purely aesthetic beauty.
