Tripod Vessel

This ceramic vessel from Honduras would likely have been used for holding beverages such as corn beer or hot chocolate in elite ceremonies. It is elaborately decorated with complex symbols, many delicately painted in shades of red, orange, and dark brown. Two dark bands at the top and bottom of the vessel show four-part shapes with waving, featherlike flanges on the sides. The shapes are similar to the Maya hieroglyph for “sun” or “day.” Yet here they are personified, with apparent eyes and a nose. On the central field of vessel, squares containing jaguars with spotted pelts and stripes down their backs alternate with very complex and elaborately decorated figures. These appear to show the Maya god K’awiil, representing lighting, serpents, corn, and fertility. While K’awiil has the serpent foot that is an identifying feature of the deity, he is shown here as a much more elongated and delicate figure than he appears on ceramics from Mexico and Guatemala, in the Maya heartland. This illustrates how Honduran arts of the late classic period (ca. 500-800 CE) were both influenced by other Maya groups, but also specific local artistic traditions, showing ceramic artists’ skill with finely painted ceramics.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.

Economos Works of Art [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; John G. Bourne, 1990s, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 2009, by gift.