Images(5)

Cylinder vase

A.D. 725–760

Place of ManufactureEl Petén, Guatemala

Medium/TechniqueEarthenware: orange, red, dark pink, and black on cream slip paint

Dimensions23.5 x 12.4 cm (9 1/4 x 4 7/8 in.)

Credit LineGift of Landon T. Clay

Accession number1988.1177

On View

On view

ClassificationsCeramics

Collections

Americas

Description

This vase features a ritual blood sacrifice and a vision-quest dance performance by Yajawte' K'inich, ruler of the Ik' polity. The performers' fantastic garb may portray their spirit companions. The text on the tall vase records the performance's date on 7 Ok 13 Xul (May 25, 749) and states that Yajawte' K'inich danced as his "jaguar throne," the name of his spirit companion. His two associates wear equally fanciful costumes portraying a jaguar/centipede and a jaguar/eagle.

InscriptionsThe rim text describes the pictorial scene and includes the event's Calendar Round date, records this as a dance event, and names the principle actor K'inich Ajaw of the Ik' polity. Short texts within the scene name the participants.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.