Remarkable Colima Redware Dog Vessel

Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Colima, ca. 300 BCE to 300 CE. A beautifully constructed, hand-built redware dog vessel of a charming form that exhibits a playful nature and smooth, highly burnished surfaces. The corpulent canine stands with a portly abdomen atop a quartet of bowed legs and features a raised neck, powerful shoulders, and a perky tail that doubles as the vessel's spout. The conical head protrudes out from the neck and bears incised, almond-shaped eyes, a tapered snout with carved-out nostrils, an incised mouth curled into a slight smirk, and a large pair of perky ears flanking the rounded skull cap. Size: 14.3" L x 7.4" W x 8.8" H (36.3 cm x 18.8 cm x 22.4 cm)

Pottery canines like this one are the only remains that we have today of a sophisticated and unique culture in West Mexico - they made no above-ground monuments or sculptures, at least that we know of, which is in strong contrast to developments elsewhere in ancient Mesoamerica. Instead, their tombs were their lasting works of art: skeletons arrayed radially with their feet positioned inward, and clay offerings, like this example, placed alongside the walls facing inward, near the skulls. A large effigy like this one most likely would have flanked the entrance to a tomb in a way that archaeologists have interpreted as guarding. Some scholars have interpreted these dynamic sculptures of the living as a strong contrast to the skeletal remains whose space they shared, as if they mediated between the living and the dead.

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 like this example were buried in shaft tombs to protect the deceased and provide sustenance for eternity.

This piece has been searched against the Art Loss Register database and has been cleared. The Art Loss Register maintains the world’s largest database of stolen art, collectibles, and antiques.

Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection; ex-private J. Hart collection, California, USA, acquired in the 1990s; ex-B. Schneider collection, Carlsbad, California, USA

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#167054
Condition Report: Very light nicks to ears, face, body, legs, and tail, with minor encrustations mostly within tail and creases of legs, and abrasions to surface pigment, otherwise intact and near-choice. Fantastic manganese blooms, root marks, and remains of pigment throughout. An amazing example!