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Ceremonial drinking vessel
Eastern Nahua (Mixteca-Puebla)
Post-Classic Period
1300–1521
Object Place: Puebla or Tlaxcala, Mexico
Medium/Technique
Earthenware with red, yellow, white, and black on orange slip paint; interior bottom with burnished orange slip has specular flakes.
Dimensions
Height x diameter: 14.6 × 17.1 cm (5 3/4 × 6 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase with funds donated by Timothy Phillips and Jeremy and Hanne Grantham
Accession Number2015.2
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsCeramics – Pottery – Earthenware
DescriptionEastern Nahua-style pottery bowls with elaborate painted decoration were among the finest ceramics of the Post-Classic Period in highland Mexico. They were used among the aristocracy especially during feasts for drinking special beverages. The Aztec emperor Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin (1466-1520) was said to eat only from such vessels adorned with images of his patron gods and other religious icons. The style is known today as Puebla-Tlaxcala polychrome or Eastern Nahua pottery because it was made in workshops in Puebla and Tlaxcala, located east of the Valley of Mexico.
This vessel features icons of the deity Mixcoatl Camaxtli, including the crossed arrows motif and the decorative band of eagle-down balls adorning the rim. Mixcoatl, the patron god of the Eastern Nahua people of Tlaxcala and Puebla, was the god of war and hunting, was the first to make fire by striking flint, and was the father of the god and Aztec culture hero Quetzalcoatl (the "Feathered Serpent"). The crossed arrows motif alternates with an enigmatic icon composed of pointed bloodletters configured as a mask of the deity Tlaloc. The vessel's tripod supports are painted as eagle heads, which may refer to the famed eagle warrior order of the Aztecs, a fitting emblem for Mixcoatl Camaxtli. The god's main temple was located Huexotzinco, Puebla, near the famous pilgrimage town of Cholula which was one of the primary locations of Eastern Nahua pottery production.
This vessel features icons of the deity Mixcoatl Camaxtli, including the crossed arrows motif and the decorative band of eagle-down balls adorning the rim. Mixcoatl, the patron god of the Eastern Nahua people of Tlaxcala and Puebla, was the god of war and hunting, was the first to make fire by striking flint, and was the father of the god and Aztec culture hero Quetzalcoatl (the "Feathered Serpent"). The crossed arrows motif alternates with an enigmatic icon composed of pointed bloodletters configured as a mask of the deity Tlaloc. The vessel's tripod supports are painted as eagle heads, which may refer to the famed eagle warrior order of the Aztecs, a fitting emblem for Mixcoatl Camaxtli. The god's main temple was located Huexotzinco, Puebla, near the famous pilgrimage town of Cholula which was one of the primary locations of Eastern Nahua pottery production.
ProvenanceMay, 1970 or May, 1971, sold by Stendahl Galleries, Los Angeles, to a private collector, Los Angeles [see note]; November 18-20, 2000, anonymous private collector sale, Sotheby’s, New York, lot 312, to Scott Gentling (d. 2011) and Stuart Gentling (d. 2006), Fort Worth, TX; November 12, 2014, consigned by the Gentling estate, Bonhams, New York, lot 60, sold to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 28, 2015)
NOTE: According to this previous owner, the vessel was acquired in May, 1970. Information supplied by the auction houses that sold the piece suggest that it was acquired in May, 1971.
NOTE: According to this previous owner, the vessel was acquired in May, 1970. Information supplied by the auction houses that sold the piece suggest that it was acquired in May, 1971.