At first, the circular forms distributed on the animal's body lead one to believe that it is a jaguar; the pair of concentric circles that integrates each one implies the rosettes or dark spots that distinguish their pelts as those of other cats would be not so circular. In this work the rosettes were marked first by printing on the fresh surface of the clay and then, with the piece already fired, sgraffito (scratching) and pigment were applied. In other pieces of the same Comala style the rosettes were also painted as concentric circles as in a crouching jaguar with a pitcher on its back. Reiterating the motif indicates that the pair of concentric circles was the convention for recreating the markings of the animal.
The rings on the tail also correspond to the markings of a cat; however, its short, pointed and curled up form as well as the small, rounded head with big ears and, above all, the absence of long canine teeth raise doubts about the initial identification. With the size of the head one option is the ocelot, and one that is more distinct from felines is the dog, whose tail could appear in the shape described. I lean towards this latter possibility, given that the characteristic line that connects the nose with the upper lip in the felines is missing and because the teeth appear even. Dogs also have long canine teeth; nevertheless, in numerous representations in this art, the denture is made without the canine teeth.
The spots certainly correspond to those of a jaguar; however, we are presented with a fantasy animal, a hybrid of a dog and a jaguar, that furthermore appears to be carrying a large vessel. To be more specific, it is a pot with zoomorphic sculptural elements: the head, the paws and the tail; the body of the pot and of the animal is the same, its globular form confers to the second the aspect of a fat dog-jaguar. Further of this interpretation is another sculpture in the Comala style which can be found in the University Museum of Archaeology in Manzanillo in which the figure of the dog is irrefutable, and whose skin has been painted with the jaguar spots already mentioned; and like our piece, it bears a pot.
The union of the animals is quite interesting; the dog is very abundant in the art of the shaft tomb culture while, in contrast, the jaguar or any other felines are limited, and practically absent in the broad iconographic repertoire, though no doubt the ancient inhabitants of Western Mesoamerica coexisted with them as they are endemic to the region. Among other societies of Mesoamerica the jaguar occupies a special place; in many artistic representations it is associated with the canines, not dogs, but wolves or coyotes. For example, in the Teotihuacan murals of the Atetelco White Patio complex, processions of jaguars and canines can be seen, both feathered and with bleeding hearts near their jaws; and on the north wall of Cacaxtla Building A, Fernando Guerrero has recently identified a character disguised as a jaguar-canine: the first mainly due to the skin and the second the shape of the head.
In the Mesoamerican cosmovision the jaguar and the dog carry complex symbolism; both, one savage and the other domesticated, are associated with the watery, dark, nocturnal, feminine underworld, the sphere of the dead. The jaguar stands out in particular for its aquatic qualities, as it is an excellent swimmer, diver and fisher, as well as a supreme hunter and predator; it symbolizes the nocturnal sun and its coat is equated with the sky at night. For its part, the dog is the companion and guide of the dead through the subterranean rivers of the world of the dead; another of its functions was to accompany or transport the Sun itself in its nocturnal phase.
The sculpture represents with eloquence the idea of the dog that transports the nocturnal sun, that is to say, of the jaguar, in its daily journey through the world of the dead. Beyond the metaphorical this dog-jaguar image was literally found in this burial space because although its specific origin is unknown, it is almost certain that it fulfilled burial functions: it would have been deposited as an offering to the dead in a shaft tomb and chamber, an architectural space that recreates the symbolic and physical qualities of the concepts of the underworld developed by the Mesoamericans. This dog is dressed for the night, being dressed in the jaguar's skin it acquires the appearance of the starry heavens, given that the rosettes were outfitted with those stars.
The artistic resources used consisted of firing the piece in a reducing atmosphere, in a space with little oxygen or poor ventilation that caused the darkened color of most of the surface; subsequently sgraffito is applied to highlight the circular black spots, remove the black surface layer and uncover the lighter colored clay. To emphasize the color contrast white pigment was applied on each circle, and the result was a black sky highlighting white stars. To conclude, it is remarked that the prominent water qualities of the jaguar, and especially of the underworld itself, are expressed in this mythical supernatural being in that it appears to bear a vessel decorated with a band with zigzag lines, reminiscent of a container of water and fundamentally because the whole image of the dog-jaguar was configured as a pot, it is a recipient that is a container of liquids.
