Colima figure with Satchels, Comala Style, Protoclassic, circa 100 BC - AD 250

Gordon Schmidt
Gray and Patsy R. Taylor, Greenwich, acquired from the above in November, 1970

The burden carrier with three full satchels slung across the chest and back, is one of the most unusual of the Colima figures in the Taylor collection. His exposed mouth with prominent gritted teeth, wrinkled cheeks and long tapered chin indicate a transformative experience. He wears a small loincloth centering the howling face of a canine in similar exaggerated expression. The curving ear ornaments (perhaps shell or claw) and arcs of applied medallions on the head signify his role as a shaman, or procurer of a ritual beverage. For a shaman figure wearing a similar ear ornament, see Mireille Holsbeke and Karel Arnaut, Offerings for a New Life: Funerary Images from Pre-Columbian West Mexico, Antwerp, 1998, p. 73, fig. 6.