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Kneeling figure of a captive, performing

Kneeling figure of a captive, performing

ca. 600 - 900

This delicate figure depicts a seated dancer (whose loincloth indicates he is a captive) who gestures with one hand and shakes a rattle with the other. Mesoamerican instruments were of the percussive and melodic type, and from paintings and sculptures we know that the Maya used flutes, rattles, drums and trumpets made from ceramic, gourds, wood, and shell.
Ceramic with pigment
5 1/2 x 4 1/2 in. (14.0 x 11.4 cm)
Gift of John H. Hauberg
99.75
Provenance: [André Emmerich Gallery, New York], by 1968; purchased from gallery by John H. Hauberg (1916-2002), Seattle, Washington, 1968; to Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington, 1999
location
Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Feasting with the Gods: Art and Ceremony in Ancient Mesoamerica and the Central Andes, Dec. 11, 2003 - July 19, 2004.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Cosmic Beings in Mesoamerican and Andean Art, Nov. 10, 2018 - ongoing.
Published ReferencesArt Journal, vol. XXVII, no. 3 (Spring 1968): reproduced p. 303.

Seattle Art Museum: Bridging Cultures, London: Scala Publishers Ltd. for the Seattle Art Museum, 2007, p. 35

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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