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| Keywords: Colima - Dog Effigy - Walters 20092051 - Three Quarter Left.jpg Among the Mexica Aztecs of highland Mexico dogs were associated with the deity Xolotl the god of death This deity and a dog were believed to lead the soul on its journey to the underworld The Mexica also associated Xolotl with the planet Venus as the evening star portrayed with the head of a canine and the twin brother of the deity Quetzalcóatl who personified Venus as the morning star The dog's special relationship with humans is highlighted by a number of Colima dog effigies wearing humanoid masks This curious effigy type has been interpreted as a shamanic transformation image or as a reference to the modern Huichol myth of the origin of the first wife who was transformed from a dog into a human However recent scholarship suggests a new explanation of these sculptures as the depiction of the animal's tonalli its inner essence which is made manifest by being given human form via the mask The use of the human face to make reference to an object's or animal's inner spirit is found in the artworks of many ancient cultures of the Americas from the Inuit of Alaska and northern Canada to peoples in Argentina and Chile This extraordinary depiction of an attentive dog captures its spirit as companions of humans The attentive canine's rotund body may suggest its value as food for the posthumous soul 100 BC-AD 300 earthenware red slip with black paint H 13 5/8 x L 19 1/8 x W 11 9/16 in 34 6 x 48 6 x 29 3 cm accession number 2009 20 51 80206 Ron Messick Fine Arts Santa Fe New Mexico date and mode of acquisition unknown John G Bourne 1990s by purchase Walters Art Museum Gift of John Bourne 2009 Lost and Found The Secrets of Archimedes The Walters Art Museum Baltimore 2011-2012 place of origin Colima Mexico Walters Art Museum license Objects from Colima in the Walters Art Museum Media contributed by the Walters Art Museum needs category review Dogs in Pre-Columbian art | ||||
