Skip to Main Content

Male Dog

200 BCE–300 CE
earthenware with burnished red slip
Overall: 39.5 x 20.8 x 47.8 cm (15 9/16 x 8 3/16 x 18 13/16 in.)
Cornelia Blakemore Warner Fund 1964.37
Location: 233 Mesoamerican and Intermediate Region
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.

Download, Print and Share

Description

One of the best-known subjects of West Mexican tomb sculpture is the native hairless dog, which is shown naturalistically-as here-but also wearing a human mask, signaling complex meanings.These meanings are not well-understood, but like later Mesoamericans, West Mexicans may have believed that dogs served as guides or guards in the underworld realm of the dead. For the living, they also served as food.
Male Dog

Male Dog

200 BCE–300 CE

West Mexico, Colima, Comala style

See Also

Visually Similar by AI

    Contact us

    The information about this object, including provenance, may not be currently accurate. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@clevelandart.org.

    To request more information about this object, study images, or bibliography, contact the Ingalls Library Reference Desk.

    All images and data available through Open Access can be downloaded for free. For images not available through Open Access, a detail image, or any image with a color bar, request a digital file from Image Services.