Pre-Columbian Zoomorphic Pottery - Western Mexico

Very old pre-Columbian animal or zoomorphic sculpture made of pottery from western Mexico, most probably from Colima, possibly Jalisco or Nayarit. 

Beautiful red clay patina with a brown/red slip burnished on the surface.   
Beautifully carved with a typical robust body, playful features and forms.

Time period: ca. 500-1000 BC AD
Collected: Before the 16th century
Dimensions: Height: 16cm
Base dimensions: Width: 8.5cm x Length: 8.5cm

The term Pre-Columbian (or Pre-Hispanic, for the Hispanic American countries) civilisation (or culture) is applied to the indigenous peoples of America whose cultural unity was determined before the discovery of this continent by Christopher Columbus or, more generally, before these Amerindian groups were militarily defeated or the influence of European culture on these societies was perceptible. 

The history of these civilisations covers the millennia from the first traces of settlement in the Upper Palaeolithic to the European colonisation of the Americas in modern times.