During the Classic period, between 200 and 650 A.D., a type of vessel shaped like a globular pot was produced in which the sculpted head of an animal was attached to the pot, which in turn forms the body. These dog-headed vessels are very common in various cultures of the Classic era. Pots were produced with this motif in the West of Mexico, in Teotihuacan and the state of Puebla. These vessels with dogs with wrinkled heads are abundant, which has validated the interpretation that they are old dogs, since they are represented like old people with very prominent wrinkles as in those of the image.
The dog-shaped vessels of the famous Anaranjado Delgado (Thin Orange) clay are well known. The dogs appear coiled following the shape of the vessel. Among the Zapotecs of the Classic period, these pots have also been found.
This vessel is finely modeled and finished with a slight burnish, its texture contrasts with the finish of the sculpted head attached to the pot, where the features are made with a pointed instrument using rough strokes and a little rushed to mark the wrinkles of the forehead and the cheeks of the canine. Its eyes are made with pastillage and protrude like two ovals on the face. The four s bear the pot as small protuberances and take the form of the four legs of the canine, whose shape continues with sgraffito lines on the rounded sides.
The type of clay and the finish seem to imitate vessels with the famous and prized Anaranjado Delgado clay; however, in this zoomorphic vessel, the clay is very different, not only because of the texture but also the color. The texture of the Anaranjado Delgado ceramic is very smooth and sleek and normally the quality of this clay is good enough that very thin sides can be made without being broken when firing. In this pot, on the other hand, the clay appears to be more coarse and grainy, the walls are not very thin in the neck and the globular walls are thinner but some holes show their fragility.
The color of the clay is very different. This pot is brown and takes a slightly darker tone due to the slight burnish that was mentioned, but some type of material has adhered to it, some pigment mixed with clay, which in some areas looks orange.
These vessels are regularly found in burial contexts, that is to say, buried together with the deceased of a certain social rank. Dog-shaped vessels that have sculptural qualities were most likely placed in tombs because of the dog's role in ancient Mesoamerican cultures as a companion to the human being on his way to the world of the dead.
During the Classic period, between 200 and 650 A.D., a type of vessel shaped like a globular pot was produced in which the sculpted head of an animal was attached to the pot, which in turn forms the body. These dog-headed vessels are very common in various cultures of the Classic era. Pots were produced with this motif in the West of Mexico, in Teotihuacan and the state of Puebla. These vessels with dogs with wrinkled heads are abundant, which has validated the interpretation that they are old dogs, since they are represented like old people with very prominent wrinkles as in those of the image.
