Cylindrical Vessel with Palace Scene (600–900): Art, History and Details

Cylindrical Vessel with Palace Scene (600–900) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The scene here may commemorate a special event in the life of a Maya ruler, who stands on a stairway before his throne, his legs framed by a litter on the ground. His gesture and the jaguar pelt at the waist visually unify him with his attendants. The ruler perhaps used the vessel as a drinking cup on important occasions; fine ceramics also served as gifts and as offerings in tombs.

Object facts

• Title: Cylindrical Vessel with Palace Scene
• Date: 600–900
• Culture: Mexico or Central America, Maya
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: earthenware with colored slips
• Dimensions: Diameter: 19 x 11.3 cm (7 1/2 x 4 7/16 in.); Overall: 19.1 cm (7 1/2 in.)
• Collection: AA - Mesoamerica
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 1967.203

Collection credit

Gift of Edgar A. Hahn

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cleveland Museum of Art, and Jenifer Neils. The World of Ceramics: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Museum in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1982.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.