Busacca Gallery

Fine Colima Dog: Mexico, ca. 200 AD Description: This charming plump dog from Mexico, dating back to approximately 200 AD, features an animated expression and a tail that functions as a large spout. The entire piece has a burnished reddish-black surface and measures 7 x 7 x 11 inches. It is an excellent example and is completely intact except for a small flake on the spout. At Busacca Gallery, we carefully edit and select all of the art we offer for its high quality and workmanship. Our collectibles have been chosen with both artists and collectors in mind. We specialize in high-end luxury fine art and collectibles from private estates. Our job is to find and curate a vast array of contemporary, vintage, antique, and collectible items from around the world. Each piece is individually handcrafted and given new life, with its unique story restored. We welcome dealers, galleries, and private collectors to register securely and buy with confidence.

The Colima region of Mexico was known for its pre-Columbian pottery, and the Fine Colima Plump Dog is an excellent example of the region's skilled craftsmanship. The ancient Colima people were skilled potters who produced a wide variety of ceramic vessels, figurines, and other objects for everyday use and for ceremonial purposes. The Fine Colima Plump Dog was likely created as a funerary offering or as a household item, as it was common for the Colima people to include ceramic figurines in their burials and to use them for domestic purposes. The dog's plump and cheerful appearance may have been intended to represent a beloved pet or a symbol of good luck and prosperity. Today, the Fine Colima Plump Dog is a rare and valuable artifact, treasured by collectors and museums alike for its beauty and historical significance. It serves as a reminder of the rich cultural heritage of the ancient Colima people and their remarkable skill in ceramics.

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogs_in_Mesoamerican_folklore_and_myth

Dogs have occupied a powerful place in Mesoamerican folklore and myth since at least the Classic Period right through to modern times. A common belief across the Mesoamerican region is that a dog carries the newly deceased across a body of water in the afterlife. Dogs appear in underworld scenes painted on Maya pottery dating to the Classic Period and even earlier than this, in the Preclassic, the Chupicaro buried dogs with the dead. In the great Classic Period metropolis of Teotihuacan, 14 human bodies were deposited in a cave, most of them children, together with the bodies of three dogs to guide them on their path to the underworld.



In many versions of the 20-day cycle of the Mesoamerican calendar, the tenth day bears the name dog. This is itzcuintli in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, tz'i' in the K'iche' Maya language and oc in Yucatec Maya. Among the Mixtecs, the tenth day was taken by the coyote, ua.