1976.W.1781 Vase fragment: procession of warriors (Maya, Honduras)

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

vessels (containers): AAT: 300193015

ritual vessels: AAT: 300265801

fragments (object portions): AAT: 300117130

figures (representations): AAT: 300189808

human figures: AAT: 300404114

processions: AAT: 300069290

warriors: AAT: 300261945

clubs (weapon): AAT: 300037206

arrows: AAT: 300036976

knives: AAT: 300024668

headdresses: AAT: 300046023

tunics (main garments): AAT: 300209869

capes (outerwear): AAT: 300046140

geometric motifs: AAT: 300009764

bands (decorative): DMA

lines (geometric concept): AAT: 300056279

circles (plane figures): AAT: 300055627

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 1976: Nora and John Wise, New York [1]

From 1976: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, The Nora and John Wise Collection, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Jake L. Hamon, the Eugene McDermott Family, Mr. and Mrs. Algur H. Meadows and the Meadows Foundation, Incorporated, and Mr. and Mrs. John D. Murchison [1], [2]

[1] The main source for this provenance is letter from A.L. Woodman, Chief of Valuation Analysis Section of the Internal Revenue Service, to Harry S. Parker, Director of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts (dated July 23, 1979, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[2] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.

Apply to objects where number equals 1976.W.1781