DepartmentLatin America
Vase with fish and nagual
NameVase
Artist
A.M. (José Antonio Mateos) Suárez
(1961 - 2022)
CultureMexican
Datec. 2010
Place madeTonalá, Jalisco, Mexico, North America
Mediumburnished ceramic
Dimensions8 × 6 in. (20.32 × 15.24 cm)
Credit LineGift of Laurie and Michael Vander Velde
Object numberA.2025.22.12
Collections
ProvenancePurchased directly from the artist at the Feria de los Maestros, Guadalajara, 2010
DescriptionThis A.M. Suárez vessel is an example of barro bruñido, or burnished pottery, typical of Tonalá pottery. This piece features fish and nagual motifs. The nagual is a hybrid creature and shapeshifter, often an animal with human features. The nagual appears often in Mexican ceramics, described in this way by Lenore Hoag Mulryan: “For potters in Tonalá, the nagual is much like the trickster figure of the American Southwest. When it inhabits humans, it can rob them of their complacency, disrupt their lives, and lead them astray. Some potters say naguales are responsible for beneficent rain or destructive hail, marital devotion or infidelity. Others blame their excessive drinking on the nagual” (Mulryan 25-27).
17th century
CA 1970, STAFF
CA 1960, STAFF
ca. 1900
Late 18th century
