Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Colima, Protoclassic period, ca. 100 BCE to 250 CE. A wonderful pottery vessel of a vermillion hue in the form of a voluminous rounded olla with a short neck rising to a dramatically flared rim, and supported by three legs, each in the form of a crouched human, as if mirroring the form of a servant bearing a litter or possibly just holding a heavy jug of water! Size: 9.35" W x 6" H (23.7 cm x 15.2 cm)
Colima, located on Mexico's southwestern coast, was during this time part of the shaft tomb culture, along with neighbors to the north in Jalisco and Nayarit. In this culture, the dead were buried down shafts - 3 to 20 meters deep - that were dug vertically or near vertically through the volcanic tuff called tepetate that makes up the geology of the region. The base of the shaft would open into one or more horizontal chambers with a low ceiling. These shafts were almost always dug beneath a dwelling, probably a family home, and seem to have been used as family mausoleums, housing the remains of many related individuals. This is a vessel made to be placed inside those mausoleums, perhaps to hold offerings and supplies for the journey between the worlds of the living and the dead.
Provenance: private southern California, USA collection, acquired in the 1970s to mid-1980s
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#147492
Condition
Repaired from multiple pieces. Repairs are well done and generally difficult to see. Nice remaining pigment with light deposits on surface. Form is very well preserved.