Designed to be buried in a tomb as a guardian in the afterlife, this tunic-draped figure is fashioned as a container with a spout on top of the head. The man’s eager expression and animated gesture accentuate the significance of the objects he holds: the drinking cup in his left hand might allude to a feast given by a ruler, while the weapon in his right wards off evil. The figure is made of earthenware, a porous clay fired at a low temperature. The artist coated parts of the figure with a slip, a liquid clay that in this case turned red when fired, then applied additional paint after the piece was fired.
Art historians and anthropologists disagree about how to read the figure’s features. His pierced ears indicate high rank, but the projection on the forehead might represent either a strapped-on conch seashell, a common ancient American symbol of rulership, or—the most widely accepted view—an animal horn, the supernatural mark of a shaman. Shamans divine the causes of illness and cure disease, predict the future, and generally preserve the well-being of the people. These figures may fulfill spiritual and political purposes: they invoke cosmic beliefs about fertility and the order of the universe, dramatize the act of sacrificial offering, or reinforce the authority of certain clans.
The exaggerated gestures of Colima sculptures influenced the British sculptor Henry Moore.
