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Hand drum
Maya
Middle Classic period
A.D. 450–650
Object Place: Belize or Guatemala
Medium/Technique
Earthenware: red and black on orange slip paint
Dimensions
37.1 x 15.5 cm (14 5/8 x 6 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Landon T. Clay
Accession Number1988.1233
CollectionsAmericas, Musical Instruments
ClassificationsMusical instruments – Membranophones
Performers carried portable drums under one arm and played with the free hand. The animal-hide drumhead was stretched over the wider end; the other remained open to amplify the drum's sound.
Catalogue Raisonné
MS1093
DescriptionThis tall ceramic drum is decorated with horizontal geometric bands, a sky motif, U-shaped iconographic elements, and what may be a floral motif. The drum was carried under the arm and played with the free hand of the other arm. See 1988.1240 for an example of this type of drum in use.
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.
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.