Standing dog

Pre-hispanic

Hairless dogs called techichi were fattened up for eating as feast food in ancient Mexico. Sixteenth-century chronicles discuss how these dogs were fed beans, lard and bananas until they became as fat as piglets. The vivid animation of this figure is a tribute to the skill of these artists. Mythological references speak of the dog as a guide who led the souls of the deceased past many obstacles, through the regions of rivers and shadows, to the land of the dead.

Ceramic with slip

10 1/4 × 14in. (26 × 35.6cm)

Floyd A. Naramore Memorial Purchase Fund and Margaret E. Fuller Purchase Fund

75.101

Photo: Elizabeth Mann

Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Art of the Ancient Americas, July 10, 1999 - May 11, 2003.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Cosmic Beings in Mesoamerican and Andean Art, Nov. 10, 2018 - ongoing.

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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