Lidded Vessel with Peccaries, Bird, and Fish Artist: Unknown

A.D. 300–400

Art of the Ancient Americas

On view, 1st floor, Art of the Ancient Americas

Decoration in paint and modeled clay covers all available space on this lidded bowl, created by a Maya artist in about A.D. 250–400. The handle applied to the lid of the vessel is formed by the arching neck and head of a bird pulling a fish into its mouth; the bodies of both the bird and the fish are painted on the surface of the lid in tan, red, and black. The body of the vessel features a variety of geometric designs painted in black and white, set against a red background. The legs of the vessel are modeled peccary heads, their snouts down, eyes painted in, and mouths indicated by slits, into which ceramic beads were inserted to create a rattle effect.

Medium

Ceramic with pigment

Dimensions

10 3/4 × 10 3/4 in. (27.305 × 27.305 cm)

Credit Line

Gift of Peggy and Richard M. Danziger, LL.B. 1963


Accession Number

2001.82.1a-b

Geography

Guatemala, or Mexico

Culture

Mexico or Guatemala, Maya

Period

Early Classic Period

Classification

Containers

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
Peggy Danziger and Richard M. Danziger, New York, by 1988 (on loan to the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 1988–2001); given to the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Conn., 2001
Bibliography
  • Mary E. Miller et al., Fiery Pool: The Maya and the Mythic Sea, eds. Daniel Finamore and Stephen D. Houston, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Peabody Essex Museum, 2010), 50, no. 5, ill
  • Art for Yale: Collecting for a New Century, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2007), 191, 384, pl. 176
  • Virginia M. Fields and Dorie Reents-Budet, Lords of Creation: The Origins of Sacred Maya Kingship, exh. cat. (London: Scala, 2005), 128–29, no. 33, ill
  • "Acquisitions 2001," Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (2002), 111, 128, ill
  • Mary E. Miller, "Precolumbian Art of Mexico and Central America at the Yale University Art Gallery," Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin (1995–96), 18, fig. 1
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

vessels

Subject

animals birds (animals) fishes (animals)

Technical metadata and APIs

IIIF

Open in Mirador

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