About the Object

Chinesco (Nayarit) vessels often resembled the forms of animals. The work here depicts a Mexican spotted owl, clear through the representation of the beak, eyes, and spotted body. These vessels have often been found associated with burials in shaft tombs.

Additional Information

This type of figure is associated with traditions in what are now the Mexican states of Nayarit, Jalisco, and Colima. Within Mesoamerica, owls were often worshipped and revered as figures associated with death and the afterlife. Therefore, vessels like this may have been specifically created to accompany an elite shaft tomb burial.