Tripod vessel with plumed jaguars
Tripod vessel with plumed jaguars

On view

Art of the Ancient Americas

Tripod vessel with plumed jaguars,

250–600 CE

Maya
Early Classic Period
y1969-15
Hybrid vessels like these were common during the Early Classic period, when Maya lords celebrated their ties, real or imagined, to the great central Mexican metropolis of Teotihuacan through artistic emulation. The taller vessel, painted with stucco after firing, implements artistic techniques associated with Teotihuacan to depict imagery connected to the distant city. Similarly, the black ceramic bowl includes another Teotihuacan decorative method, known as plano-relief carving. The process involves scraping the surface of a leather-hard vessel to outline forms and roughen the negative space around them. After firing, pigment rubbed into these recessed areas provides contrast to the primary design.

Information

Title
Tripod vessel with plumed jaguars
Dates

250–600 CE

Medium
Ceramic with polychrome stucco paint
Dimensions
h. 18.5, diam. 21.5 cm. (7 5/16 x 8 7/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of the Friends of The Art Museum in honor of Gillett G. Griffin
Object Number
y1969-15
Place Made

North America, Mexico, Campeche, possibly Placeres, Maya area

Reference Numbers
MS2104
EC-cb5-7 (Maya Photographic Archive, Dumbarton Oaks)
Culture
Maya
Period
Middle Classic
Type
ceramics, vessels (containers), polychrome
Materials
polychrome, pigment, ceramic
Subject
hearts (motifs), mythology, iconography, hieroglyphics, headdresses, jaguars

By 1969, Everett Rassiga, Inc., New York [1]; 1969, gift of the Friends of The Art Museum to the Princeton University Art Museum.

Notes:
[1] According to correspondence dated March 19, 1969, this object was already with Gillett G. Griffin, though payment had not yet been completed.

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