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Collections

Tripod Vessel Depicting a Warrior's Shield450–650 CE

Not on view
Ceramic tripod vessel with wide cylindrical body painted in brick red, cream, and sage green, featuring a central face cartouche and geometric registers above three pierced rectangular slab feet
Ceramic tripod vessel with cylindrical body on three slab feet with cut-out geometric openings. Exterior painted in red-orange and green with horizontal registers of stylized masked faces, a central bird or deity figure, and repeating geometric motifs. Visible repair holes along the rim.
Ceramic tripod vessel with cylindrical form, standing on three slab feet with openwork lattice cutouts. Exterior painted in terracotta red and pale green with horizontal bands enclosing frontal masked figures and geometric motifs; interior darkened. Surface shows wear consistent with age.
Ceramic tripod vessel with flared cylindrical form, painted in terracotta red and green with horizontal bands of chevron patterns and circular medallions featuring stylized figures and faces; three rectangular openwork slab feet with cut-out geometric designs; visible crack on one side.
Ceramic tripod vessel with cylindrical body, painted in red-orange and green with repeating figural medallions featuring stylized faces, bordered by geometric bands; hollow slab feet with cutout rectangular openings; visible crack along one side.
Ceramic tripod vessel with cylindrical body on three slab feet with cutout openings. Red-orange ground decorated with painted green and cream bands, circular medallions enclosing frontal faces, and a central bird figure. Surface shows wear and flaking pigment.
Ceramic tripod vessel with flared cylindrical form, painted in red-orange and turquoise green with a frontal masked figure at center, surrounded by geometric bands; three hollow slab feet with cut-out openings; surface shows wear and repaired crack.

Unknown, Tripod Vessel Depicting a Warrior's Shield, 450–650 CE, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Gift of Constance McCormick Fearing, photo © Museum Associates/LACMA

Title
Tripod Vessel Depicting a Warrior's Shield
Culture
Teotihuacan
Place Made
Mexico, Basin of Mexico, Teotihuacan
Date Made
450–650 CE
Medium
Stuccoed Thin Orange ceramic with postfire applied pigments
Dimensions
Height: 6 1/4 in. (15.9 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Constance McCormick Fearing
Accession Number
AC1996.146.56
Classification
Ceramics
Collecting Area
Art of the Ancient Americas
Curatorial Notes

The cylinder tripod was a signature vessel form at Teotihuacan. Vessels were often covered with stucco and painted like the murals that once adorned apartment compounds in the city.

2008

Selected Bibliography

  • Selections from the Pre-Columbian Collection of Constance McCormick Fearing. Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1967.

  • Conides, Cynthia. Made to Order: Painted Ceramics of Ancient Teotihuacan. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2018.
Selected Exhibition History
  • The Painted City: Art from Teotihuacan. Saturday, March 29 - Sunday, December 7, 2014

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