Plate with rattle supports
AD 650–750
Place of OriginDepartment of El Petén, Guatemala
Medium/TechniqueEarthenware; pink, black and orange slip decoration
DimensionsOverall: 38.1 × 38.1 × 12.4 cm (15 × 15 × 4 7/8 in.)
Credit LineGift of Lavinia and Landon T. Clay
Accession number2004.240
On View
On viewClassificationsCeramics
Collections
A ruler's primary responsibility was to channel supernatural forces through vision quests (journeys to the spiritual realms) in order to affect human affairs. Here, a lord gazes into a divining mirror and dances before a throne embellished with celestial icons. The stack of valuable cloth, quetzal-bird feathers, and rare, spondylus shells on the throne indicate his political and economic success. Vision serpents, conduits to the supernatural realm and conveyors of visions, adorn the plate's interior.
ProvenanceBy early 1980s, acquired in New York by a private collector [see note]; May 14, 2004, anonymous (deceased private collector) sale (sale N07996), Sotheby's, New York, lot 192, to the MFA. (Accession Date: June 23, 2004)
NOTE: According to both Sotheby's and the family of the seller's estate this object was in his New York apartment for decades.
NOTE: According to both Sotheby's and the family of the seller's estate this object was in his New York apartment for decades.
A.D. 700–800
A.D. 700–800
A.D. 700–800
A.D. 650–800
650–750 AD
A.D. 600–800
AD 757-767
A.D. 725–760
AD 650–800
A.D. 600–750
A.D. 650–780
A.D. 600–750