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Cylinder vase
Maya
Late Classic Period
A.D. 680–750
Place of Manufacture: Department of El Petén, Guatemala, El Mirador Basin
Medium/Technique
Earthenware: black and red on cream-orange slip paint
Dimensions
12.9 x 12.2 cm (5 1/16 x 4 13/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Landon T. Clay
Accession Number1988.1281
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsCeramics – Pottery – Earthenware
DescriptionCodex-style cylinder vase with three tau-shaped supports and a heavy encrustation of specular hematite on the exterior bottom of the vase. The painted narrative scene renders three humanoid figures and one skeletal supernatural. The vase has been repainted in modern times although it is likely that the modern imagery replicates, in a general fashion, the original painting. The vessel has thicker walls and is heavier in weight than is usual for codex-style pottery.
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.
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.