Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Colima, Comala, ca. 300 BCE to 300 CE. A fantastic burnished redware vessel with a broad body presenting four voluminous maguey agave cactus leaves emerging from its shoulders, equidistantly placed for a balanced composition. Between them and emerging from the top of the vessel is a smaller olla with a narrow neck leading to a flared rim. The vessel is slipped with a saturated red vermillion slip that was beautifully burnished and shows liberal burnishing marks and manganese deposits. This vessel represents a classic case of art imitating life, as the indigenous of Mexico used certain species of cacti for food as well as to make a beverages with hallucinogenic properties. In this example, the potter suggests that mescal, a term for the roasted preparation of this cactus as well as the fermented beverage produced by it, fills this vessel - awaiting the user's thirst! Size: 10.625" W x 7.875" H (27 cm x 20 cm)

Colima, located on Mexico's southwestern coast, was during this time part of the shaft tomb culture, along with neighbors to the north in Jalisco and Nayarit. In this culture, the dead were buried down shafts -- 3 to 20 meters deep -- that were dug vertically or near vertically through the volcanic tuff that makes up the geology of the region. The base of the shaft would open into one or more horizontal chambers with a low ceiling. These shafts were almost always dug beneath a dwelling, probably a family home, and seem to have been used as family mausoleums, housing the remains of many related individuals. Vessels like this one were placed in the tombs in order to hold offerings.

A similar example is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (accession number 1979.206.958). The curatorial team's description is as follows: "Like other ceramic objects from Colima, the subject matter of this vessel was taken directly from the imagery of daily life. The four projecting elements of this pot are representations of a regional food staple, the succulent base of the maguey agave cactus leaf that even today is roasted and sold in the local markets of western Mexico, the area from which this jar came. Other Colima vessels of this type depict piles of fruits and vegetables, such as zapotes and squashes. All are characterized by simple, elegant motifs rendered three-dimensionally and presented in repetition. These ceramics have been found in burial contexts and their shape suggests that they would have held a liquid, perhaps one derived from the object that they depict. In this vessel, the roasted cactus, called mescal, like the fermented beverage produced by it, is depicted as if set in a bowl ready for consumption."

Provenance: private Houston, Texas USA collection, acquired in the 1960s

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#121754

A tiny .25" rim chip that has been restored. Surface pressure cracks on the underside of the base. Expected surface wear with a few old scratches, but also nice burnishing marks, root marks, and manganese deposits.