Ameca-Ezatlán Style Jalisco Terracotta Sculpture of a Hunchback - PF.3193, Origin: Jalisco, Mexico, Circa: 300 BC to 300 AD, Dimensions: 8.75" (22.2cm) high x 7.25" (18.4cm) wide, Collection: Pre-Columbian, Style: Ameca-Ezatlán, Medium: Terracotta. Ameca-Ezatlán is a fine quality ware as seen in this magnificent sculpture of the notorious Mesoamerican hunchback. It is well polished and lustrous, and reveals a cream or light brown slip. The nose is long and thin, the mouth is wide and smiling, and the large eyes are made with applied pieces of clay. The powerful shape of the back emphasizes the voluptuous form of the well-proportioned body. He is caught in action with offerings held in both hands aided by the support of his back and shoulders. One offering is a bowl, which may have held provisions at one time, while the other is some form of a gourd with a hole in the center. Hunchbacks were revered as shamans with special healing and supernatural powers in Mesoamerica. Here, he is most probably depicted as the bearer of offerings to any number of the ancient deities that were worshipped. Perceived as having the power to appease the deities, this hunchback was the center of attention in the community where he once lived, and now becomes an eternal center of attention of our innumerable conversations and bewilderment of his bizarre, yet captivating beauty.

Antiquities
Ancient Central America & Mexico