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Group shot: 1988.1290a-b
K'iché burial or cache urn lid
Group shot: 1988.1290a-b

K'iché burial or cache urn lid

AD 650–850
Object PlaceGuatemala
Medium/TechniqueEarthenware: white, black, yellow, blue-green and red paint
Dimensions132 x 64 cm (51 15/16 x 25 3/16 in.)
Credit LineGift of Landon T. Clay
Accession number1988.1290a
On View
On view
ClassificationsCeramics
Collections
Description
The Maize god on the lid symbolizes life after death, as the appearance of maize in the fields each spring was the Maya metaphor for the resurrection of the human soul. Offerings to the dead were made through the lid's opening, which also allowed the living to communicate with the gods and deified ancestors.
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.