Tecomate (gourd-shaped bowl) with an excised serpent,

1400–1000 BCE

A serpent winds around one vessel, while two others present clawed feet: The distinctive hooked shape of the claws colored red on the tecomate (gourd-shaped bowl) are those of a feline, such as the mighty jaguar, the terrestrial apex predator of Mesoamerica. The long, straight claws carved on the bottle more likely depict bird talons. The Olmec featured in their art a specific raptor, the harpy eagle, the great predator of the sky. Parts of a creature’s body likely stood for the whole, a convention scholars call pars pro toto (part for the whole), a visual strategy frequently employed by Olmec artists. In the deeply excised designs adorning the dish displayed here, intensive reduction and abstraction were used. The designs represent the head of the Olmec Dragon, a supernatural being that blends features of the crocodile, harpy eagle, snake, and feline.