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Flat-bottom tripod bowl
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 slip paint
Dimensions
10.7 x 17.1 cm (4 3/16 x 6 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Landon T. Clay
Accession Number1988.1280
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsCeramics – Pottery – Earthenware
DescriptionCodex-style dish painted with a scene depicting two supernatural co-essences (wayob), including a dog-jaguar wearing a fringed scarf and a toad with a waterlily headdress. Both hold plates containing human femurs (leg bones) and disembodied eyeballs. Five hieroglyphs may name the depicted co-essences. The vessel has wide tau-shaped supports. Portions of the imagery have been repainted in modern times although the repainting generally follows the original lines.
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.