Double-Chambered Vessel with Spout and Figurine Handle

Culture: Zapotec
Period: Late Formative period, c.300 BCE–300 CE
Date: c.300 BCE–300 CE
Material: Ceramic with pigment
probably from: Oaxaca state, Mexico, North and Central America
Classification: Ceramics, containers
Collection: Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas
Current Location: On View, Gallery 114
Dimensions: 8 1/8 x 10 3/4 x 4 1/2 in. (20.6 x 27.3 x 11.4 cm)
Credit Line: Gift of Morton D. May
Rights: Public Domain
Object Number: 129:1980

NOTES

This spouted vessel is carved in the gray clay characteristic of the finest Oaxacan ceramics. Its bird-like appearance may reflect interactions and exchanges between the elites of the Valley of Oaxaca and the Maya region in the early years of the first millennium. Both groups revered bird-like deities, and though they did so for different reasons and in different ways, the overall appearance of birds in both cultures is quite similar. Here you can see the hooked, almost raptorial beak and tongue, combined with anthropomorphic details like the curving cheek and chin and spindly arms and legs.

Provenance

by 1971 - 1980
Morton D. May (1914-1983), St. Louis, MO, USA [1]

1980 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, given by Morton D. May [2]

Notes:
[1] This object arrived at the Saint Louis Art Museum on October 18, 1971, on loan from Morton D. May, identified as "Rooster Faced Double Bowl" [Entry Receipt E1515, Registrar's Office, SLAM Archives].

[2] A letter dated April 3, 1980 from Morton D. May to John Peters MacCarthy, president of the Board of Commissioners, includes the offer of this object as part of a larger donation [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Acquisitions and Loans Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, June 6, 1980.

We regularly update records, which may be incomplete. If you have additional information, please contact us at provenance@slam.org.