Figure Item Number: 3462/44 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Day of the Dead figure. Figure depicts a skeletal cat. Round feet are attached to the cat's irregular shaped body via thin, metal rods. Its tail is curled, and also shaped from a thin, metal rod. Its ribs, spine, toe bones, and hip and eye sockets are all painted in brown. The cat has four whiskers painted on its face, as well as a red mouth. Its nose and ears are brown.
Figures like these, made by local artisans, have commonly been sold in indigenous markets throughout Mexico, especially for Day of the Dead celebrations. The figures are used as domestic decorations and presents for children. In 2019 Shelton noted that both the large Oaxaca market and the Sonora market in Mexico City had far fewer stalls selling this type of figure than there had been twenty years earlier. One maker in Oaxaca said domestic demand had declined, and that there were fewer artisans as many of the older makers had died and their children hadn't taken-up the craft. Some of the artisans make skeletal figures encased in glass, to sell to tourists through folk art shops.
Purchased from the Mercado de Sonora in Mexico City in 2019.