Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Colima, Protoclassic Period, ca. 100 BCE to 250 CE. Simple yet elegant in style and boasting sublime technique, a beautiful bi-chrome redware vessel depicting hunchback figure sitting upon curved, attenuated legs. The highly-burnished figure suffers from a severe case of dwarfism made evident by his dramatic forward-leaning posture and his malformed spine which almost protrudes through his back. Short, bent arms extend downwards from rounded shoulders, and a squat neck supports a bulbous head. Incised almond-shaped eyes, a triangular nose, slightly-parted lips, and tab-shaped, pierced ears comprise the dwarf's visage, and a bulbous coiffure gradually tapers to the spout rim. In Pre-Columbian times, the deformities of hunchbacked people were believed to be signs from the divine that they were in fact special, chosen individuals who were touched by the supernatural. Size: 8.5" W x 9.125" H (21.6 cm x 23.2 cm)

Hunchback and dwarf individuals were apparently beloved by the Colima - indeed, they heavily outnumber portrayals of women (and some have theorized that this relates to their relatively high social status in the society). Some scholars attribute the hunched back in West Mexican shaft tomb culture to a particular form of tuberculosis.

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 deceased 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 were likely used as family mausoleums, housing the remains of many related individuals. This figure was made to be placed inside those mausoleums, perhaps to mediate between the worlds of the living and the deceased.

For a similar example of a Colima seated hunchback figure, please see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number X.2.431.

Provenance: ex private Nevada, USA collection; ex David Harner collection, Arkansas, USA acquired 1950s-1960, collection #M58

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#161875

Minor nicks and abrasions to limbs, body, and head, with fading to pigment in scattered areas, and chips to back of spout, otherwise intact and excellent. Nice preservation to original pigment throughout. Old inventory label beneath base.