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Cylinder vase
Maya
Late Classic Period
A.D. 600–700
Place of Manufacture: El Petén, Guatemala, East of Lake Petén Itzá
Medium/Technique
Earthenware: dark red, brown, black, and white on red ground slip paint
Dimensions
22.1 x 12.1 cm (8 11/16 x 4 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Landon T. Clay
Accession Number1988.1178
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsCeramics – Pottery – Earthenware
A pair of supernaturals, nicknamed "The Paddlers" because they paddle the souls of the deceased through the Underworld's waters, dance as they transport the Maize god. On the opposite side of the vase, the Maize god dances as he is resurrected from the Underworld.
Catalogue Raisonné
MS1120; Kerr 731
DescriptionRed background vase depicting the death and eventual resurrection of the Maize god (Juun Ixim). The deity simulaneously steps into and rises from the underworld/earth symbolized by the cracked turtle carapace from which peer two underworld gods. Juun Izim faces a dancing dog who may be named in the hieroglyph above his head. Elsewhere in ancient Mesoamerica, dogs were believed to be companions of the dead on their underworld journey. Three supernaturals stand in canoes that transport them in the watery underworld to the place of the Maize god's entrance into/emergence from the netherworld. One holds a deer antler to strike the large turtle carapace cradled in his arm; the carapace/drum being marked with a kan-cross motif which has cosmic and maize associations. A typical Dedicatory Phrase (formerly Primary Standard Sequence) encircles the upper rim.
InscriptionsDedicatory Phrase (formerly Primary Standard Sequence) rim text.
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.