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HOME :
Pre-Columbian Art :
Mayan Bowls and Plates : Mayan Polychrome Funerary Bowl
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Mayan Polychrome Funerary Bowl - PF.2302
Origin: Guatemala
Circa: 600
AD
to 900
AD
Dimensions:
2.875" (7.3cm) high
x 12.375" (31.4cm) wide
Collection: Pre-Columbian
Style: Mayan
Medium: Terracotta
$8,600.00
Location: United States
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| Photo Gallery |
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| Description |
This charmingly rendered funerary bowl is a fine
example of the Mayan artisans' ability to capture
the animated elements of the natural world.
Here we see four dogs playfully chasing each
other, their kinetic movements around the
interior of the bowl enhancing the wide circular
shape of the vessel. Dogs played an important
role in Mayan culture for it was believed that
canines were both guide and guard for the dead,
leading them through the various perils of the
underworld. The dogs portrayed on this bowl are
of the Mexican hairless type, whose wrinkled
gray skin is the color of stone. This distinctive
quality has given them their ancient name of
Tepescuintl, or Techichi(Tetl, 'stone'; chichi,
'dog'). One early Spanish missionary, Fray
Bernardino De Sahagun, mentions them as, "the
dogs of the country, totally without hair.... short
and round." We do not know whose ancient
Mayan soul escaped through the hole in the
center of the bowl and is quite possibly being
guided by these large-eyed canines at this very
moment. But we are able to appreciate and enjoy
the aesthetic qualities that make this bowl a
testimony to the artistic and mythic sensitivities
of the ancient Mayan people.
- (PF.2302)
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