Vessel with Ballplayer
c. 600–1000
Maker Unknown
Art of the Americas
Vessel with Ballplayer, c. 600–1000. Mexico, Yucatán, Maya (Chocholá) style (250-900). Earthenware, pigment; diameter: 18.1 x 15.6 cm (7 1/8 x 6 1/8 in.); overall: 18 cm (7 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener 1990.180 Many Mesoamerican people played ball games, using their hips rather than hands and feet to keep the heavy, solid rubber ball in play. Here a Maya ballplayer, wearing a thick protector to shield his torso from injury, dives to intercept the ball, which hovers in front of his face. The scene is situated within stepped walls, probably those of a ball court. This vessel was once broken into 34 pieces before being repaired.
- Maker/Artist
- Maker Unknown
- Classification
- Ceramic
- Formatted Medium
- earthenware, pigment
- Medium
- earthenware, pigment
- Dimensions
- Diameter: 18.1 x 15.6 cm (7 1/8 x 6 1/8 in.); Overall: 18 cm (7 1/16 in.)
- Departments
- Art of the Americas
- Accession Number
- 1990.180
- Credit Line
- Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener
- Exhibitions
- The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art, The Sport of Life and Death: The Mesoamerican Ballgame, Artlens Exhibition 2019
- Rights Statement
- CC0
- Museum Location
- 233 Mesoamerican and Intermediate Region
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