The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of August 13, 2022

Tripod Bowl

600-1000

Honduras, Ulúa Valley, 7th-10th century

Marble

Overall: 8.1 x 6.9 x 10.9 cm (3 3/16 x 2 11/16 x 4 5/16 in.)

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener 1990.171

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

One of two vessels that were the first ancient American artworks collected by James and Florence Gruener.

Description

Between about 600 and 800, white marble vessels carved in dense relief on their outer surfaces were a form of luxury and wealth in the Ulúa region of Honduras. Two confronting profile zoomorphic heads occur on each side of this example, between three-dimensional handles shaped as bat heads. Originally the vessel may have been covered with stucco and brightly painted.

Provenance
?-1936
Payne Collection, Springfield, IL, sold to James C. and Florence C. Gruener
1936-1990
James C. [1903-1990] and Florence C. [1908-1982] Gruener, Cleveland, OH, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1990-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Stone, Doris. Masters in Marble. [New Orleans]: Dept. of Middle American Research, Tulane University, 1938. p. 45
Young-Sánchez, Margaret. "The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 79, no. 7 (September 1992): 234-75. Reproduced: p. 236, fig. 93 www.jstor.org
Luke, Christina Marie. Ulúa Style Marble Vases. 2002. p. 333, fig. E.16- E.17
Exhibition history

Art of the Americas, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 9, 1945-January 6, 1946).

The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 4 - November 29, 1992).

On the Edge of the Maya World: Stone Vases from the Ulua Valley, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX (February 23- May 31, 1993).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1990.171