Mexican pottery expert

I am very fortunate to have made many good Mexican friends here at Lakeside. Yesterday one of my friends, a working man, gave me a gift of a piece of pottery. I am now curious as to exactly what it is that I received. Does anyone know of a Mexican pottery expert that could let me know what I have?

The piece is about 18 inches tall and is a figure of a woman. The piece evidently was not used as a container but as a piece of decoration. It appears old but I do not think that it's pre Columbian pottery. The pot has 3 holes in it. One is on top of the head, one is between the shoulder blades and one is on the stomach area.

I am thinking that perhaps a smaller figurine was placed inside of this one so that it could be viewed through the opening in the stomach. The other two holes would serve to provide light into the interior and light up the figurine. Perhaps the pot is used to show a pregnancy.

a fine reproduction of pre columbian pottery. you are correct it is not old.
javier degollado has a company that specializes in this sort of thing and you can also visit the artisans shop just north of chapala up the hill.

Incense burner? Most of the prehispanic objects were utilitarian rather than used as #decoration". Outside of the daily vessels most of the objects were ceremonial, used to make offers the god. The most common offers were food and copal/incense. It could be a copy of a godess of fertility or a made up figurine used to hace a candle in it..adapted to todays needs.
I am no expert but that is what is would guess.
Colima, Nayarit, Mexico edo, Jalisco (Chapala) and other states make this type of replicas

brigitte wrote:Incense burner?

Nope, just looks like a couple of straws stuck up Pedro's nose.

I'm still trying to locate a Mexican pottery expert. Please respond if you know how I can get in touch with one. Thanks for the serious responses.

i gave you 2 sources already. the people making and/or selling these repros know what they are and their meaning.

The experts are INAH but I first would go to the man Pedro recommends .

Okay Pedro, I will check that out if you give me some way to find him. Do you have a phone number or an address where I can find him?

i don't have his card any more but hector espana the owner of mannix restaurant would know how to reach him. javier does not speak english though. his brother, gerardo, is a councilor and former presidente of chapala and speaks fairly good english.

http://www.degolladoreproducciones.com.mx/index.php

Tel: 52 376 765 7311

I looked through this gallery website with many types of Mexican pre-Columbian art, but didn't see anything similar.

http://www.barakatgallery.com/Store/Index.cfm/FuseAction/AuctionHall/UserID/0/CategoryID/31.htm

wayda go donpito,great research!

I think it is a reproduction from Nayarit, Chinesco style eyes, tiny arms , short fat legs, I have not seen anything like that before but the style could have been adapted-

The bumps on the shoulders are battle wounds/scars. Many of the female figures have these scars.

Very interesting, are they comon throughout the Western Mexico female representations or only with some of the cultures?

some ancient peoples practiced scarification art on their bodies. since those bumps seem to be symetrical, could that be it?