The remarkable opening in the beak of the duck in question serves a dual purpose: in addition to expressing something ephemeral in a tangible way, such as the sound that this bird produces, it serves as a firing opening. In a ceramic piece modeled as a hollow volume, indentations are required to prevent it from bursting during firing.
In contrast to the immediate significance that its extensive iconographic repertoire represented in realistic styles is usually attributed in relation to the Shaft Tomb Culture, the prevailing values are symbolic, in other words, they represent socially constructed ideological values. In this case they are associated in particular with the sphere of religion, since it is very likely that the piece comes from an underground burial site; its perfect condition indicates that it was not located in the surface levels. The duck with its squawk could be calling to the wind.
The beak of a duck, in the manner of a mouth mask, is one of the attributes of the deity that the Nahua societies of the late Post-Classic in the Central Highlands knew as Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl. In this regard, Gabriel Espinosa identifies that it is the hybrid beak that mixes various qualities of waterfowl, such as the teeth of the merganser and the seasonal crest of the pelican.
In the Comala style, ducks are the most abundant species among the aquatic fauna represented. Pelicans were also modeled as part of the bird kingdom. It is not enough to insist that even though the repertoire of animals that was artistically recreated in the ceramic workshops of ancient Colima is extensive. It does not consist of a catalog of the fauna of the area, nor of the edible species; it is far from being that and instead it is a selective sample book predominantly linked to a complex system of thought or worldview. In Mesoamerica ducks, with their ability to fly as well as to plunge and dive, cause the wind to blow, which precedes the rains, in such a way that they make the water currents rise from the depths of the lower layer of the cosmos, whose primal nature is watery.
The ducks in the Colima style to which we now turn our attention show a variety of species based on variety in the shapes of crests, beaks, and tails. The postures are also diverse and are seen both individually and in pairs or family groups. The one in question appears to be swimming, thereby emphasizing its aquatic nature; it is in this environment that it spends most of its life.
Regarding its origin in a burial site, it could have been a particular type of architectural burial enclosure known in generic as a shaft tomb. Basically, they are made up of a cylindrical or four-side vertical pit or shaft, of variable depth, at the base or on one side of which opens a chamber. It was customary to deposit the deceased and their offerings in this space. The shaft tombs could be reused for multiple burials over time, even centuries. Its material was a volcanic-type soil with more or less compaction, respectively called duripan or fragipan. The constructive technique consisted of roughing this solid matter; as a result, cave-like spaces were artificially created. For Mesoamericans, these cavities symbolized entry into the underworld, whose qualities, as has been said, are watery, like a gigantic ocean; therefore, the site where this sculpture originated is completely congruent with the concepts associated with the image of the waterfowl.
