Made more than 2,000 years ago in the Western Cordillera of Colombia, this small sculpture is an outstanding example of the fantastical figurative ceramics created by potters of the Calima Ilama tradition. Although approximating a basket-carrier (hence the term canastero, from the Spanish canasta, meaning basket), this figure is barely anthropomorphic, sporting an oversized snout filled with large teeth, and arms, feet, a nose, and a necklace transformed into serpents.
The Ilama tradition forms the earliest phase of the long-lived Calima culture. Traces of dwellings, cemeteries, roads, and agricultural fields with raised ridges and drainage canals testify to a continuous occupation from 1500 BCE through to the sixteenth century. People of this period practiced shifting cultivation, growing crops such as corn, cassava, beans, and vegetables, cultivating land until its nutrients were depleted and then relocating to new sites. The road system, as well as frequent representation of canasteros, suggest that the movement of goods was important and that a substantial trade network was well established by the first millennium BCE. However, the supernatural or hybrid aspects of many canasteros indicate that, rather than merely depicting traders, they had a far greater symbolic function: these fierce creatures likely were meant to protect or empower whatever was contained in the vessel.
Although it appears to be intact, this piece has undergone significant interventions in modern times, prior to entering LACMA’s collection.
Julia Burtenshaw
2022
Selected Bibliography
Schrimpff, Marianne Cardale, ed. Calima and Malagana: Art and Archaeology in Southwestern Colombia. Pro Calima Foundation, 2005.
Unpacking the Universe: The Making of an Exhibition, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJy-HLfC3xxCue9_kM1GRNcnPEaNvi_aW.
