Images(2)

Cylinder vase

A.D. 680–750

Place of Manufacturenorthern Petén lowlands, Guatemala

Medium/TechniqueEarthenware: brown-black and red on cream slip paint

Dimensions12.7 x 11.2 cm (5 x 4 7/16 in.)

Credit LineGift of Landon T. Clay

Accession number1988.1182

On View

On view

ClassificationsCeramics

Collections

Americas

Description

Monkey-like men wear the clothing of artist-scribes and sit inside a palace. They are the Hero Twin's half-brothers, who were turned into monkey-men because of their jealous conspiracy against the Twins. These simians became the patron deities of Maya artists, dancers, and musicians.

InscriptionsCalendar Round date 1 Ix 1 P'op (an impossible combination), and short phrase recording a verb and protagonist.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.