The earliest food-serving container in Mesoamerica was the gourd or calabash. It pre-dates the domestication of maize (prior to 5000 BC) and remains in use throughout Mexico. During the Preclassic and Classic periods, artisans carved and painted containers made from gourds and calabashes, although these organic objects usually do not survive in the archaeological record. Classic period artists also made replicas from ceramic and stone, such as this ceramic vessel.


Squash Effigy Vessel.
Mexico, Yucatan Peninsula, Acanceh, AD 450-550.
Ceramic with orange slip.
14.1 x 17.5 cm.
CNCA-INAH, Museo Regional de Yucatan, "Palacio Cantón," Merida, Mexico.

more info



The color and shape of this limestone bowl mimic drinking vessels made from the calabash. The incised images include hieroglyphic texts separating three cartouches, each containing a figure and text. One cartouche features the god of cacao, his body spouting cacao pods, who points to a jar likely filled with cacao drink.


Carved Bowl
Mexico, Yucatan Peninsula
Limestone
8.6 x 15.9 cm
Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections, Washington, D.C.

more info



One of the most highly valued crops of the Pacific slopes of southern Guatemala was cacao. Representations of cacao are preserved in ceramics from this region, often in the form of incense burners or lidded cache vessels. This lid is modeled in the form of a young woman who holds a small bowl filled with cacao pods. She emerges from a pile of cacao beans, once used as a form of curency.


Censer Lid in Form of Female Holding Cacao
South Coast, Guatemala
AD 250-450
Ceramic
32 x 42 cm
Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala City

more info



The Maya elite served a frothy cacao drink during feasts. The importance of these gatherings dictated the use of elaborate service vessels such as this unusual lidded container in the form of a cormorant with a tiny turtle attached to its breast.


Vessel in Form of Cormorant
Peten, Guatemala
AD 250-450
Ceramic with pigment
28 cm
Courtesy of David T. Owsley

more info



Cacao had a prominent place at feasts, lending prestige to the feast's host and giving pleasure to his guests. It was created by mixing ground cacao beans, water, flavorings, and a sap-based foaming agent, and then pouring the liquid from vessel to vessel to produce a heady froth. During the Preclassic, spouted jars and tall cylinder vessels were used during feasts to prepare and serve cacao drinks.


Spouted Vessel
Tomb 1, Mound 1, Chiapa de Corzo, Chiapas, Mexico
100 BC-AD 100
Ceramic with Usulutan resist decoration
21 x 18.5 cm
CNCA-INAH, Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City

more info



Vessels filled with cacao also were placed in tombs to provide sustenance for the deceased in the afterlife. The vessel depicted here was found in the burial of an aristocratic man at Río Azul. This tomb was dug into bedrock underlying the platform that supported an early funerary temple perhaps asscociated with Río Azul's tenth ruler.


Lidded Vessel and Stand (catalog and website only)
Tomb 19, Structure C-1, Rio Azul, Guatemala
AD 480
Ceramic with stucco and slip
35 x 17 cm
Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala City

more info



During the Early Classic period, artists eschewed the complex modeling of Preclassic vessels in favor of more simplified forms intricately embellished with incised and, especially, painted imagery. The change was gradual, its first manifestations combining Preclassic features (modeled knobs and tall, mammiform supports or "feet," as seen here) with simpler Early Classic forms (cylindrical vases and wide plates with flat bottoms) that were then painted with complicated, symbolic designs.


Tripod Vessel
Central Peten, Guatemala
50 BC-AD 200
Ceramic with slip
25 x 14cm

more info



Artists also developed individual painting styles that conveyed distinction and status to both the regal patron and the gift recipient. Often, the name and noble parentage of the patron or recipient was recorded on the vessel, as is the case with this lidded vessel with hieroglyphic text.


Lidded Tripod Vessel with Hieroglyphic Text
Central Peten, Maya Area
AD 250-400
Ceramic
15.2 x 7.6 cm
Purchased gift to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

more info



This four-footed dish with a bird-effigy lid was among the offerings found in a burial at Tikal's Mundo Perdido complex, which was the residential and administrative center of Tikal until AD 378. The vessel was found in the burial of an infant, who was adorned with greenstone jewelry. The burial was below the floor of Structure 5D-84, the northernmost shrine of the complex's E-Group, an assemblage of buildings associated with ancestral veneration rites.


Lidded Dish with Bird-Head Knob
Mundo Perdido, Tikal, Guatemala
AD 250-400
Ceramic with slip
19.6 x 16.5 cm
Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala City

more info


top   home


Copyright 2005 Los Angeles County Museum of Art