Zoomorphic vessel

The shape of the eyes and nose lead us to think it could be an opossum, a very important animal in Mesoamerican mythology. However, we cannot be completely sure of our identification as it could also be a stylized image of a dog. In the case of the latter version, the animal is in a reclined position.

This piece is both a figure and a vessel at the same time, a common technique in Mesoamerican art that began in the Preclassic period. The animal figures were often placed as part of the burial offerings, as if to represent accompanying pets or even to depict (whether or not they were domestic animals) an atmosphere of daily life where animals and men live side by side. As it was also designed as a vessel, it is likely that it held some type of liquid that would have also formed part of the burial offering in question. Animal-shaped vessels are found in different regions and periods, such as in Tlatilco and Teotihuacan.

The dark clay, with an almost black engobe and burnished after firing, was very characteristic of Tlatilco art and was also often used in pieces belonging to the stylistic tradition that we call "Las Bocas". In both cases, they are regional contemporary representations of the Olmec tradition that we can situate in its earliest phase around the year 1000 B.C.

In this period, when experimentation in ceramics was still being conducted to a certain extent, very diverse types of figures and vessels were produced, many of which were related to the depiction of men and animals in seemingly spontaneous positions. This creativity from the Preclassic period contrasts slightly with the less varied or imaginative formalization of the Classic period, due to the force that some conventions had that were repeated in schematic form, at least in Central Mexico.