Advanced Search 
Cylinder vase
Maya
Late Classic Period
A.D. 740–780
Place of Manufacture: El Petén, Guatemala, Motul de San José area, Lake Petén Itzá region
Medium/Technique
Earthenware: red, pink, white, gray (but originally green), and black on cream slip paint
Dimensions
22.7 x 13.7 cm (8 15/16 x 5 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Landon T. Clay
Accession Number1988.1184
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsCeramics – Pottery – Earthenware
The scene renders the birth of the Baby Jaguar deity, who lies in a dish with a "birth serpent" umbilicus rising from his body. The individuals beside him likely are his parents. Maize plants and heads suggesting serpents or dragons adorned with water lilies indicate the supernatural mountain location of this deity's birth.
Catalogue Raisonné
MS1124; Kerr 1184
DescriptionRitual drinking vase depicting the birth of a supernatural nicknamed “Baby Jaguar”, who lies in a dish with a “birth serpent” umbilicus rising from his body, and flanked by his divine parents. Two open-mouthed serpent heads, which sprout white maize leaves and bracket the reclining baby, denote the numinous location of his birth, named sak witz “white mountain” in the vase’s hieroglyphic text. The black background indicates primordial time before the creation of humanity, and the text records the birth’s mythical date (1 Ix 2 Muwaan) and the Baby Jaguar’s name (Huk Yeh Tok’, “Seven Edges of Flint”). Large flint blades adorn his and his mother’s headdresses. One of three vases painted by the same master artist (also see 1988.1168, L-R 394.1985).
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.