This work has dual qualities: it is a vessel and a sculpture. The upper opening with a neck and straight divergent edges make the first evident, together with the fact that it is hollow. The size relation between the mouth and the body allow it to be classified as a pitcher. We can describe its sculptural facet as the representation of a hemispherical bowl containing numerous fruits. Therefore, it regards a vessel that in turn represents another vessel, more specifically a fruit bowl.
The "fruits" appear stacked. They are hemispherical forms with central depressions were sustained by peduncles or stems. It is not possible to identify them; among the possibilities are pumpkins, tomatoes, hawthorn and plums. It should be noted that the pitcher is a closed vessel and therefore is not designed to contain representative type objects, but liquids. Maybe what is self-referential about this image reflects a beverage made from the depicted fruit.
As with other Mesoamerican cultures, in the shaft tomb culture the deceased were buried together with food and drink. It was thought to be post-death sustenance for their trip or stay in the underworld (the realm of the dead), where they would require such items. In the archaeologically identified shaft and chamber tombs, vessels are a constant and numerous presence. One of their main practical functions was to hold sustenance which, as the centuries ed, has disappeared due to its perishable nature.
In this order of religious ideas about the continuity of existence we can understand a part of the symbolic values of the work we address, since seemingly edible fruits materialized with aspirations of perpetuity. Several of the regional styles of Western art include in their iconographic repertoire the sculptural representation of vessels with food, recognized mostly due to their realism, variety and modeling as individual and separate works belonging to the Comala style, shown by the piece we see. Needless to say, other symbolism of these types of images could be tied to the participation of the fruits or edibles in general in diverse rituals and mythical narrations long since forgotten.
It is also important to note the masterful modeling and the one-piece manufacturing of the vessel-fruit bowl. Chromatic variations in red and orange are perceived. The black paint in negative particularly stands out, of which only remnants are left. Circular red forms are distinguished in the black spots, above all, in those of the base, to which some kind of resin was no doubt applied before applying the layer of black paint and submitting the piece to a second firing. As the resin faded, the small red circles would arise. Lastly, the piece was finally burnished, that is, the outer surface was wet for polishing with a small hard and smooth object, perhaps made from leather or pyrite. It can be assumed that it was later submitted to a third firing. The intricate creation of the work and its outstanding artistic values allow us to surmise its special use in a ritual context and its association with the burial of high-ranking individuals in the social hierarchy.
This work has dual qualities: it is a vessel and a sculpture. The upper opening with a neck and straight divergent edges make the first evident, together with the fact that it is hollow. The size relation between the mouth and the body allow it to be classified as a pitcher. We can describe its sculptural facet as the representation of a hemispherical bowl containing numerous fruits. Therefore, it regards a vessel that in turn represents another vessel, more specifically a fruit bowl.
