Place of Manufacture, Belize
MS1092; Kerr 1082 Maya Vase Book V.1 p. 57
34.8 x 40.8 cm (13 11/16 x 16 1/16 in.)
Medium or Technique
Earthenware: red and black on yellow-orange slip paint
Ancient South America Gallery (Gallery LG33)
Large basin painted with a depiction of a sacrificial rite involving warriors and battle captives. The four sets of figures include two sets of two warriors facing each other, all holding a shield and spear. A bound and bleeding captive sits on the ground between the two groups of warriors. A third set of figures includes a nude male figure whose body is painted with horizontal stripes and who has undergone penis perforation sacrifice. He faces a warrior holding a shield and spear. Set on the ground between these two figures is a large dish holding a decapitated human head. The fourth set of figures comprises two musicians, one playing a long flute and a maraca, the other playing a long flute and small drum held under his arm (see 1988.1233 for an example of this type of drum). They are flanked by a bound and bleeding captive and a bound human leg. A band of "kan" crosses encircles the basin below the red rim band.
Collected between 1974 and 1981 by John Fulling, Art Collectors of November, Inc., Florida (and known as the "November Collection"); to Landon T. Clay, Boston, Massachusetts, in 1987; to MFA, December 1988, gift of Landon T. Clay.
Gift of Landon T. Clay