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Cylinder vase

Maya
Late Classic Period
A.D. 680–750
Place of Manufacture: northern Petén lowlands, Guatemala, Pacaya area, El Mirador Basin

Medium/Technique Earthenware: brown-black and red on cream slip paint
Dimensions 12.8 x 11.1 cm (5 1/16 x 4 3/8 in.)
Credit Line Gift of Landon T. Clay
Accession Number1988.1172
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsCeramicsPotteryEarthenware
The same fluid line defines the peccary (wild pig) and turkey and the short hieroglyphic text. Yet, the text is painted backwards and in mirror image, suggesting an otherworldly quality and emphasizing the artist's expertise.

Catalogue Raisonné MS1831; Kerr 1001
DescriptionCodex-style vase with scene depicting a snorting peccary and a turkey. A short hieroglyphic text indicates these animals are supernatural co-essences (wayob).
ProvenanceBetween about 1974 and 1981, probably purchased in Guatemala by John B. Fulling (b. 1924 – d. 2005), The Art Collectors of November, Inc., Pompano Beach, FL; May 20, 1987, sold by John B. Fulling to Landon T. Clay, Boston; 1988, year-end gift of Landon Clay to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 25, 1989)

NOTE: This is one in a group of Maya artifacts (MFA accession nos. 1988.1169 – 1988.1299) known as the “November Collection” after John Fulling’s company, the Art Collectors of November, Inc. John Fulling sold this group of objects to MFA donor Landon Clay in 1987, and they were given to the Museum the following year.
Evidence suggests that John Fulling built the November Collection from sources in Guatemala between 1974 and 1981. Only a portion of what he acquired during this time came to the MFA in 1988. It is not possible to determine precisely which objects were acquired when or from whom.