Description:

Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Colima, ca. 300 BCE to 300 CE. A portly pottery dog, hollow, with a spout in its head and a grinning mouth that some scholars have suggested means that it is stuffed with corn. This particular example has a foreshortened body and curved spine, maybe representing a real dog who had some deformity. Scholars know of at least two types of Colima dogs, one to be fattened up and ritually sacrificed or eaten and one to serve as a watchdog and healer of the ill. This plump hairless canine known as a Chichi or Escuintla is thought to be related to the Chihuahua or Mexican Hairless also known as the Xoloitzcuintle. The Xolo dog was named for the deity Xolotl, the God of the Underworld, and believed to guide the deceased as they journeyed to the afterlife. Colima vessels such as this one were buried in shaft tombs to protect the deceased and provide sustenance for eternity; it would have been filled with some kind of libation. Size: 10.75" L x 5" W x 10" H (27.3 cm x 12.7 cm x 25.4 cm)

Provenance: Ex-Private Southern CA collection

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#116918

  • Condition: Intact, with a fine archaeological surface of manganese staining.

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October 10, 2016 7:00 AM MDT
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Artemis Fine Arts

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