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Creamware bowl

A.D. 450–650
Object PlaceVeracruz, Mexico
Medium/TechniqueEarthenware with slip paint, incising
DimensionsOverall: 19.1 cm (7 1/2 in.)
Credit LineMuseum purchase with funds donated by Lavinia and Landon T. Clay
Accession number2007.49
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsCeramics
Collections
Description
Veracruz pottery is renowned for its simple, elegant shapes and its fine-grained clay bodies, which permitted incised lines mimicking painting. The image on this bowl may depict a denuded warrior prepared for ritual sacrifice; he holds a processional staff, and a rope encircles his neck.
ProvenanceProbably excavated in Veracruz, Mexico. By 1966, Jay C. Leff (b. 1925 – d. 2000), Uniontown, PA [see note 1]; November 17, 2006, Leff estate sale, Sotheby’s, New York, lot 359, to the MFA. (Accession Date: February 21, 2007)

NOTES:
[1] Included in the exhibition “Ancient Art of Latin America from the Collection of Jay C. Leff” (Brooklyn Museum, November 22, 1966 – March 5, 1967), cat. no. 353.


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Group shot: 1988.1250 (top), 1988.1242 (bottom)
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