Tripod Vase with Mythological Scene

Public Domain

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Images(6)

Artist Unknown Central and South American

CultureMaya

Titles

Tripod Vase with Mythological Scene

Date600–900 AD

Possible placeMexico

Possible placeGuatemala

MediumEarthenware with slip

DimensionsOverall: 3 1/2 × 4 1/8 dia. in. (8.9 × 10.5 cm)

Credit LineGift of Frank Carroll

Object number2007.1776

Current Location

The Caroline Wiess Law Building

205M Wiess Gallery

On view

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Department

Art of the Indigenous Americas

Object Type

CERAMICS

ProvenancePeter G. Wray, Scottsdale, late-1970s–1990 [1]; sold through [Sotheby's, New York, November 19, 1990, lot 88]; purchased by private collection, New York, 1990–2002; purchased by [Huber Primitive Art, Dixon, Illinois, in 2002]; purchased by Frank Carroll, Houston, September 11, 2002–2007; given to MFAH, 2007.

[1] Date of acquisition verified by David Joralemon, former curator of the collection.
Exhibition HistoryThe Bayly Art Museum, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, Spring 1982.

“Fangs, Feathers, and Fins: Sacred Creatures in Ancient American Art,” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, October 15, 2014–March 22, 2015.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, on loan, January 28, 2004–December 12, 2007, when accessioned as gift.
Published References Grube, Nikolai. "Ciudades Perdidas Mayas." Arqueologia Mexicana (May-June 2004). Volume XII, no. 67, page 37. Hellmuth, Nicholas. "Deer in Maya Art, Iconography." Foundation for Latin American Anthropological Research (FLAAR) Reports, Flaar (USA) and FLAAR Mesoamerica (January 2025): Unpaginated, Figure 126. https://flaar-mesoamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/deer-iconography-Part-2-Kerr-and-Hellmuth-rollouts-Jan-2025-Nicholas-Hellmuth-FLAAR-Reports-comprimido-comprimido.pdf. Kerr, Justin and Barbara. The Maya Vase Book: A Corpus of Rollout Photographs of Maya Vases. New York: Kerr Associates, 1994. Vol.4, page 693. Kerr, Justin. Maya Vase Database. K1384 (added on December 16, 2002, but photographed in October 1980). https://www.mayavase.com/ Robicsek, Francis and Hales, Donald M. The Maya Book of the Dead: The Ceramic Codex. Charlottesville, NC, 1981. Page 27, vessel 37. Sotheby's Pre-Columbian Art Auction, New York, November 19, 1990, lot 88.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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