• Visit

    Plan your visit

    Guidelines

    Guided tours

    Explore Puebla

  • Exhibitions

    Ancient Mexico

    Viceregal and 19th Century Art Galleries

    Temporary Exhibitions

    • Pasadas
    • Presentes
    • Próximas
  • activities

    Presential

    Online

    Guided tours

  • Online

    Amparo Online

    E-Books

    Virtual Tours

  • Learn

    Kids

    • Tutorials
    • Coloring booklet
    • Cuadernillos de actividades
    • Cuentos para niños
    • Cápsulas para niños

    Publications

    Podcast

    Education Program

    College outreach

    Videos

  • Services

    Terrace

    Museum Store

    Library

    Terrace Cafe

    Space rental

  • Museo Amparo

    Our founders

    History of the Buildings

    Artists and scholars

    • Ponentes
    • Researchers
    • Artists

    • Press
    • Bolsa de trabajo
    • Subscribe to newsletter
      Al suscribirte recibirás información de los eventos y exposiciones del Museo Amparo.
    • Volunteer
    • Formulario de o

ES

  /  

EN

Schedule

Wednesday to Monday

10:00 to 18:00 h

Anthropomorphic vessel with character in a swimming or flight pose | Ancient Mexico. Pre-Columbian Art Galleries | Museo Amparo, Puebla

Anthropomorphic vessel with character in a swimming or flight pose

<
Culture Unknown
Region Oaxaca, probably
Period Early Classic
Year 200-600 A.D.
Technique

Modeled clay with pastillage

Measures 13.1   x 14.6  x 29.5  cm
Location Gallery 2. The Religious World
Record number 52 22 MA FA 57PJ 100
Researcher
  • Pablo Escalante Gonzalbo

This vessel depicts the human form, where the concave base of the recipient coincides with the belly of an individual. These effigies/recipients were very common in Mesoamerican ceramic art, and began to be developed around the year 1000 and prevailed until the Spanish Conquest.

In the majority of cases, these vessels were naturally not used for drinking, as they would be fragile and inconvenient. The liquid placed in them, such as water, pulque, cocoa or some other beverage, would have been used as an offering. Large dishes and bowls were used for solid offerings while vessels were used for liquids.

As a general rule, when a luxury or ceremonial vessel is preserved intact it is because it was protected in a cavity, burial or covered tomb. Objects left on patios or in rooms broke with the collapsing of the roof or walls over time, and reach us as fragmented pieces. A vessel like this one and others of its type must have come from a burial context.

It is worth reflecting on the probable meaning of the figure and also how it is related to the function of recipients used for offerings. The horizontal position, with the abdomen facing downward, and the posture of the arms and legs, stretched out and slightly flexed, suggests the action of flying or floating, a posture that we also find, for example, in horizontal reliefs of the building of the Dancers of Monte Alban, and in the stucco of the effigies of the deceased men in one of the royal tombs of Lambityeco, also in the Valley of Oaxaca.

It these cases it is probable that we are faced with the same concept: individuals engaged in some kind of flight, perhaps an allegory of the soul's journey, which due to its volatile character, moves by floating and spinning to through the stages of heaven and hell. In the case of common deaths, those who had not died in war or by any supernatural cause, this journey allowed the soul to reach the area of the deceased where the journey came to an end.

It is likely then that this vessel formed part of a group of burial offerings that carried a liquid inside and made reference to the soul of the deceased buried there.

Despite the fact that we do not have many stylistic features to make an assessment on the origin of this piece, it is very likely that it is from Oaxaca, as it is there that the theme of the floating or flying individual (probably alluding to the soul) is most common; also, the facial features, with their moderate realism and expression, coincide with the stylistic tradition of the ceramics from Monte Alban.  

 

Rep. Aut. I.N.A.H.

2 Sur 708, Centro Histórico,

Puebla, Pue., México 72000

Tel +52 (222) 229 3850

Open from wednesday to monday

10:00 to 18:00 h

Visit
Plan your visit Guidelines Activities Guided tours Descubre Puebla
Exhibitions
Ancient Mexico Viceregal and 19th Century Art Galleries Contemporary Art Collection Temporary Exhibitions
Online
Activities E-Books Virtual Tours
Learn
Kids Publications Podcast Education Program College outreach Videos
Services
Terrace Online Store Library Terrace Cafe Space rentals
Museo Amparo
Our founders History of the Buildings Artists and scholars
Press Collaborate with us Boletín
and Conditions
Privacy policies
Licencia Creative Commons

Esta obra está bajo una Licencia Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 4.0 Internacional