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K'iché burial or cache urn base
Maya
Late Classic Period
A.D. 650–850
Object Place: K'iche, Guatemala, Southern Highlands
Medium/Technique
Earthenware: white, black, yellow, and red paint
Dimensions
67.5 x 63.5 cm (26 9/16 x 25 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of John B. Fulling
Accession Number1987.723b
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsCeramics – Pottery – Earthenware
A large-eared bat perches on this urn, whose body combines images of a jaguar with the spikes of the "ceiba" tree, the mythic world tree-pillar of the universe and conduit to the spiritual realm.
DescriptionThe base of a burial or cache urn is decorated with a modeled and painted renderings of a jaguar head surrounded by a yellow-painted background with black spots imitating jaguar skin. Two wide strap handles are found on each side of the urn in the center of a wide strip of three vertical rows of large spikes painted white, which recall the spiked trunk of the ceiba tree.
ProvenanceAbout 1971-1973, purchased in Guatemala by John B. Fulling (b. 1924 – d. 2005), Lighthouse Point, Florida; 1987, year-end gift of John B. Fulling to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 20, 1988)