The piece combines the characteristics of two different regional styles, and also has some anomalous elements, such as the abdominal swelling and large opening on the top of the head for firing. On the one hand the design corresponds to the Lagunillas variation “C” style because of the triangular chin, but on the other, the tufts of hair standing up on the head and the representation of individuals sitting with their ribs marked on their fronts and backs corresponds to the Ixtlan de Rio style. Both are located in the region now known as Nayarit.
The backbone is defined in other pieces, but cannot be seen here, which helps distance it from the anatomical realism characteristic of this type of sculpture. The bulging abdomen with hands resting on top, the open legs and the lifted knees could suggest a birthing position; however, this would be unusual in the iconographic repertoire of this art because it does not have prominent breasts and genitals, therefore I would conclude that the potter's intention was to create a sick man.
The low quality of the craftsmanship is particularly clear in the crude facial features and the flat base of the piece, very different from the rounded modeling that characterizes the production of this type of sculpture.
The ceramic sculptures of the shaft tomb culture, which settled in Western Mesoamerica from 300 B.C. until 600 of our era, are found in large quantities in public and private collections both in Mexico and abroad; some collections can be reliably traced back to the late nineteenth century.
We know that the origins and destinations of these collections varies greatly; not all of them have gone to public museums, as in the case of the collection of the Saenz couple in the Amparo Museum, Diego Rivera's collection in the Anahuacalli Museum and Miguel Covarrubias collection in the National Museum of Anthropology.
It is important to consider the heterogeneous way in which collections of the shaft tomb culture art were created. In the 1890s some foreign researchers, such as Carl Lumholtz and Leon Diguet, compiled collections during their expeditions to Western Mexico which they later took to the institutions that sponsored them. At the same time, the pieces were also sought by collectors in general and offered to tourists. In addition to the pieces found by accident while working in the country side, there were also people who were dedicated to their extraction.
Two of the most significant local collectors were Miguel Galindo and Jose Luis Cossio y Soto, both were professionals interested in understanding Colima's Pre-Columbian past. They published their research on the subject in 1922 and 1939 respectively.
Other early collectors were foreigners who visited or lived in Mexico, such as tourists, merchants, landholders, business people and diplomats who amassed enormous collections. Some collections were taken to Europe, such as the one Arnold Vogel's, who was the German consul in Colima and coffee plantation owner. His collection reached the Ethnological Museum of Berlin in 1911. Another example was French-Mexican Auguste Genin, a businessman connected with the Mexican government during the Porfiriato who also headed a mission for the French Ministry of Public Instruction. From at least 1922, this is how the Trocadero Museum in Paris got its hands on thousands of pieces sent by Genin; another part of his collection also reached the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels.
