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Lidded tetrapod bowl with paddler and peccaries

Maya

Not on view

Carrying the day’s catch on his back, a lucky fisherman rows his small canoe through a mythical realm. The fisherman sports a flowerlike k’in, or "sun" sign, on his head and navigates waters lined by rows of flowers along the rim of the lid and the base of the bowl. Oddly enough, this aquatic landscape is supported on the flat noses of four peccaries, or wild pigs—terrestrial creatures that form the legs of the bowl.


Cuenco tetrápodo con tapa, con remeros y pecaríes
Guatemala o México
Siglo IV al V
Cerámica, cinabrio

Con la pesca del día a cuestas, un afortunado pescador rema en su pequeña canoa por un lugar mítico. Luce en su cabeza el signo k’in, o "sol", en forma de flor y navega por aguas rodeadas de flores, dibujadas en el entorno de la tapa y la base del cuenco. Resulta extraño que este paisaje acuático esté sostenido por los hocicos chatos de cuatro pecaríes –criaturas terrestres– que conforman las patas de la vasija.

Lidded tetrapod bowl with paddler and peccaries, Ceramic, cinnabar, Maya

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Image courtesy Dallas Museum of Art