CHUPÍCUARO EFFIGY VESSEL LATE PRECLASSIC/PROTOCLASSIC, CIRCA 300 BC-AD 300

Charles Laughton and Elsa Lancaster, Los Angeles

Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, October 15, 1966, lot 33, consigned by the above 

Sotheby's, New York, May 16, 1989, lot 88

Merrin Gallery, New York

American Private Collection, acquired from the above in 1989

The Chupícuaro culture was centered in the Acámbaro Valley and Lerma River area of Guanajuato, Mexico, from about 600 BC until about AD 200. Its location in northwest Mexico made it a possible route for the exchange of ideas between West Mexico, Central Mexico and the American Southwest. Chupícuaro artisans created a distinctive ceramic tradition best known for the male and female figures with bulbous legs and geometric step-fret motifs on the chest and face. 

This effigy vessel represents a stylized dog whose large ears function as spouts. The tapered and pierced feet are similar to the supports of Chupícuaro mammiform vessels.