2000.239.FA Head form pendant (Maya, Guatemala)

During the Classic period (200-900 CE), Maya culture developed in the region from the northern Yucatán peninsula to the southern highlands of Guatemala, from eastern Mexico to western Honduras. The Maya built monumental architecture in cities strategically located on trade routes traversing land, rivers, and sea. By the Late Classic period (600–900 CE), an expanding Maya elite traded in luxury items such as feathers, cacao, cotton cloth, obsidian, and jadeite sourced from southeastern Guatemala and western Honduras. The desire by Maya elite for exotic goods expanded interaction with non-Maya populations into the southeast periphery of Mesoamerica.

The Ulúa River system served as a crucial conduit for cultural exchange into central Honduras. Maya traders from coastal Belize and the Yucatán peninsula transported worked objects to northern Honduras in exchange for local resources. Artisans from the Ulúa River regions produced elaborately carved marble cylinder vases, which were traded as far north as central Mexico and south into Panama. The Ulúa River valley, Lake Yojoa, and Comayagua populations further developed a regional polychrome painted ceramic tradition. These “Ulua Polychromes” varied in form and decoration; however, they often incorporated visual motifs adapted from their highly prolific Maya neighbors. The Ulua Polychrome tradition flourished in central Honduras throughout the Late Classic period.

Kimberly L. Jones, PhD, Label text, Edith O'Donnell Institute of Art History (EODIAH), 2017.

Pre-Columbian (American): AAT: 300016619

Maya: AAT: 300017826

Lowland Maya: AAT: 300017099

worn costume accessories: AAT: 300209274

jewelry: AAT: 300209286

pendants (jewelry): AAT: 300046002

green (color): AAT: 300128438

figures: AAT: 300189808

human figures: AAT: 300404114

head: AAT: 300262520

faces (animal or human components): AAT: 300251798

eyes (animal or human components): AAT: 300400484

noses (animal or human components): DMA

mouths (animal or human components): DMA

nobility (nobles / aristocracy): AAT: 300025942

ancestors: AAT: 300255718

king: AAT: 300025481

rulers (people): AAT: 300025475

portrait: AAT: 300015637

geometric motifs: AAT: 300009764

geometric patterns: AAT: 300165213

lines (geometric concept): AAT: 300056279

green (color): AAT: 300128438

trade (function): AAT: 300061886

luxury (concept / condition): DMA

precious (concept / condition): DMA

Ulúa Valley (Honduras): DMA 

Río Ulúa (river): TGN: 1131229

Ulúa (Pre-Columbian Northern Central American styles): AAT: 300017226

Until 1978: John Menser, Ancient Art of the New World, Inc. New York [1]

1978-2000: Juanita K. Bromberg, Dallas, purchased from the above on December 21, 1978 [1], [2]

From 2000: Dallas Museum of Art, Foundation for the Arts, The Alfred and Juanita Bromberg Collection, bequest of Juanita K. Bromberg [1], [2], [3]

[1] The main source for this provenance was existing provenance information in TMS. No other supporting information found in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object Files. Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted. 

[2] The main source for this provenance is Deed of Gift from estate of Juanita K. Bromberg (dated November 02, 1999, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[3] The Foundation for the Arts is a non-profit corporation created as a title-holding entity to serve the people of Dallas but to operate independently of the City. The Dallas Museum of Art (at its own cost) is responsible for the care, storage, insurance, conservation and maintenance of the collection, and agrees to maintain the highest museum standards in the management and handling of the Foundation’s collection. The title to all works of art purchased or otherwise acquired by the Foundation for the Arts is retained by the Foundation.

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