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View: From above
Tripod plate with rattle feet
Maya
Late Classic Period
A.D. 600–750
Place of Origin: Department of El Petén, Guatemala, Tikal area
Medium/Technique
Earthenware with red, orange, and black on cream slip decoration
Dimensions
Overall: Diam: 39.5 cm (15 9/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Lavinia and Landon T. Clay
Accession Number2004.241
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsCeramics – Pottery – Earthenware
Torture and sacrifice were crucial rituals that sought to ensure the balance of the universe. Here, a sacrificial decapitation reenacts that of the Maize god by the lords of the Underworld, leading to his resurrection.
Description"Supported on tripod rattle legs encircled by a stepped band, the tondo brightly painted with a warrior, possibly one of the Hero Twins displaying insignia of Xbalanque with spotted cheek, holding a trophy-head by a long hank of hair, and a long staff in the left hand wrapped with blood-spattered cloths, wearing a distinctive shaggy costume with tail, a pectoral of crossed bones with scarf below, his headband with large beads securing thick coiffure and a streamer flowing at the back, flanked by seven glyphs, the three on the left noting the date of the event and possibly the name of the decapitated individual, the right upper hand glyph possibly naming the central figure, and the walls encircled by repeat glyphs and jaguar pelt motifs." [from Sotheby's catalogue text]
ProvenanceBetween about 1977 and 1981, acquired by Peter G. Wray, Scottsdale, AZ [see note]; November 26, 1985, Wray ("property of an American institution") sale, Sotheby's, New York, lot 93. May 14, 2004, anonymous ("property from private collections") sale, Sotheby's, New York, lot 153, sold to the MFA.
NOTE: According to David Joraleman, former curator of that collection. Included in the exhibition "Masterpieces of Pre-Columbian Art from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Peter G. Wray, Emmerich and Perls Galleries, New York, April 11-May 12, 1984, fig. 31.
NOTE: According to David Joraleman, former curator of that collection. Included in the exhibition "Masterpieces of Pre-Columbian Art from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Peter G. Wray, Emmerich and Perls Galleries, New York, April 11-May 12, 1984, fig. 31.