Maya Lidded Tripod Vessel

Stendahl Galleries, Los Angeles

Emile Deletaille, Brussels, acquired from the above on February 23, 1976

Thence by descent

Brussels, Société Générale de Banque, Art de Mésoamérique - Meso-Amerikaanse kunst, November 17, 1976 - January 8, 1977

Société Générale de Banque, Art de Mésoamérique - Meso-Amerikaanse kunst, Brussels, 1976, fig. 195

Maya vessels were made to honor and commemorate once-living rulers and to venerate their gods and ancestors; these ceramics with complex and narrative imagery were laden with power and symbolism.

Of graceful and fine proportion, the thin-walled vessel is supported on pierced slab feet of Teotihuacan style, and carved in sweeping bands along the body and scutate lid with highly stylized saurian surrounded by water/cloud scrolls, with remains of thick lime green stucco applied post firing.

Covering richly decorated vessels with stucco can be likened to the ancient Maya practice of covering white stucco on foundations or even superstructures to then bury them under new constructions (e. g. Rosalila at Copan). The usage of concealing stucco might have allowed the vessels to take on different meanings or usage laden with new symbolism.

See for the general type, C. Philips, ed., Le Cinquième Soleil, Arts du Mexique, 2012, p. 166, cat. no. 127