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Cylinder vase

Maya
Late Classic Period
A.D. 650–800
Object Place: Department of El Petén, Guatemala, Mirador Basin

Medium/Technique Earthenware: black and red on cream slip paint
Dimensions 14.6 cm (5 3/4 in.)
Credit Line Gift of Landon T. Clay
Accession Number1988.1273
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsCeramicsPotteryEarthenware

DescriptionCodex-style cylinder vase with three nubbin supports. Narrative scene is highly eroded and heavily repainted in modern times. Three human figures are visible. One figure is a warrior holding a spear and wearing a jaguar-peccary headdress. A short hieroglyphic text is found in front of the warrior.
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.