I fell in love with this object when I saw it in the National Museum of Anthropology of Mexico. One of my best gay male friends and I were in Mexico City to visit friends and we’d been in the museum a couple of hours when I turned a corner and suddenly saw this piece. I was wearing the instructional audio headphones and a female voice with accented English was saying “La Gallina Loca: CRAZY Chicken, or FANtastic hen. A figure representing the underworld, it is ceramic with shell encrustations.” I called my somber, jetlagged friend over to look at it and he instantly brightened up and laughed and said “That’s the only gay thing in here!!!” Every house needs one of these, or equivalent.

“Popularly known as “la Gallina Loca” (the Crazy Hen), this unique piece probably depicts a raptorial bird with Underworld associations, given the fact that the marine elements it incorporates are often related to this realm. Bird Shaped Vessel. Teotihuacan, 300 - 550 AD, Clay, marine shells and greenstone.

Tags: ancient art, crazy chicken, Design, fantastic hen, gallina loca, glam, mexico, museum of anthropology, underworld

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