this is another Colima culture artifact, like this one I drew just a little bit ago! it's the spout on the side that tipped me off, and the expressiveness. figures from this region of Mexico have just an incredible character to them that it's really easy to fall in love with. unfortunately that apparently means they've been overwhelmingly looted, with the end result that we just... don't know a lot about the region and culture, from what I understand. a depressing amount of art from the americas is like this.
there's something tantalizing about Colima pieces in particular I think because they often feel so contemporary, so like cartoon stylization. (people keep comparing this dog to sinkdog, and, like, yeah kinda!) but the looting that removed them from context has made it harder to ever understand just how this art would've been received, and I think that's a shame. idk it's a reminder I guess (and yeah this is a bit of a subchost) that just because something is technically in the public domain doesn't mean it is ex nihilo--these things have origins and contexts that are lost when we treat them as just fun things to, say, put in our kahlua ads lol.
they're such a delight, though, and I hope someday there's a structure to academia that can support research into these cultures in a way they really, really deserve.