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The natural shape of this very broad trumpet have been emphasized through the application (in "pseudo-cloissoné") of black and red pigments, leaving a broad white band in the middle of the instrument. Given the importance ascribed to colors and their associations elsewhere in Mesoamerica, it is not inconceivable that the color schemes used on this kind of trumpet had a meaning that was readable to the initiate.




Conch trumpet
West Mexico
Late Pre-Classic to Early Classic periods (100 B.C.- 300 A.D.)
Teuchitlán, State of Jalisco
Conch
18.6 cm.
National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico.

Photo © Jorge Pérez de Lara