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San Antonio Museum of Art, Museum purchase.

Bowl with Abstract Design

San Antonio Museum of Art, Museum purchase.
San Antonio Museum of Art, Museum purchase.
Contact San Antonio Museum of Art, Registrar Department for rights and reproduction of this image. Photography by Ansen Seale.

Bowl with Abstract Design

Artist:
Place made:Guatemala
General region:North and Central America
Culture: Maya
Date: ca. A.D. 800-900
Dimensions:
h. 5 in. (12.7 cm); diam. 7 in. (17.8 cm)
Credit Line: Museum purchase
Object number: 72.42.15
Provenance: by purchase by the Witte Museum Shop, San Antonio, TX, 1972; by transfer to the San Antonio Museum of Art, 1994
Label Text
The geometric patterns painted on this polychrome bowl were imbued with meaning to the Classic Maya. The larger black dots may represent jaguar markings. Elites and rulers were often depicted wearing jaguar pelts. They did so, in part, as a sign of power and primacy in the social and political hierarchies, just as the jaguar stands in the animal kingdom. (Bernadette Cap, 2021)
On view


The San Antonio Museum of Art is in the process of digitizing its permanent collection. This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect SAMA's complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of such records is ongoing.