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Source Description
At the time of the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, Costa Rican mythology linked iguanas to the sky and to rulers. The earlier makers of this vessel left no written records, but they may have had similar beliefs. The lizard poses as though basking in the sun, a celestial body, and assumes an aggressive stance that could be likened to a ruler's: the teeth and chin under the dewlap are displayed, Also, fine ceramics like this were buried in the graves of the high-status dead, some of them certainly leaders of the several groups that competed in the area.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
159277
label
Lidded Bowl with Iguana
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
159277
contentType
object
title
Lidded Bowl with Iguana
description
At the time of the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, Costa Rican mythology linked iguanas to the sky and to rulers. The earlier makers of this vessel left no written records, but they may have had similar beliefs. The lizard poses as though basking in the sun, a celestial body, and assumes an aggressive stance that could be likened to a ruler's: the teeth and chin under the dewlap are displayed, Also, fine ceramics like this were buried in the graves of the high-status dead, some of them certainly leaders of the several groups that competed in the area.
date
c. 600–1100 (Thermoluminescence date, 995–1395)
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60779060
genreSpecific
Ceramic
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Base: 15.1 x 35 cm (5 15/16 x 13 3/4 in.); Lid: 29.9 x 38 cm (11 3/4 x 14 15/16 in.)
cul
Costa Rica, Southern Nicoya region
accession
1995.72
Source extras
tec
ceramic, slip
tombstone
Lidded Bowl with Iguana, c. 600–1100 (Thermoluminescence date, 995–1395). Costa Rica, Southern Nicoya region. Ceramic, slip; base: 15.1 x 35 cm (5 15/16 x 13 3/4 in.); lid: 29.9 x 38 cm (11 3/4 x 14 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund, 1995.72
collection
AA - Intermediate Region
didYouKnow
Green iguanas can grow to be over 6 feet long.
citations
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art, “The Cleveland Museum of Art Acquires Major Works,” December 20, 1995, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
citation
<em>Extrait de la Gazette des Beaux Arts</em> (March, 1996) .
page_number
p. 55
citation
"Opening of Pre-Columbian Galleries at Cleveland."<em> Tribal Arts</em>. (Winter, 1997).
citation
Hopper, Robin.<em> Functional Pottery: Form and Aesthetic in Pots of Purpose.</em> London: A. & C. Black, 2000.
page_number
p. 106
citation
May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. K<em>nockouts: A Pocket Guide</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001.
page_number
pp. 97-98, 220, no. 108
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art, David Franklin, and C. Griffith Mann. <em>Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art.</em> Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012.
page_number
pp. 66-7
citation
Bergh, Susan E. "'The Art of Those Who Lived Here Before the White Man Came': Collecting the Ancient Americas at the Cleveland Museum of Art." In <em>Collecting the “Other Americas”: Ancient Americas Collections in American Art Museums, </em>edited by Victoria I. Lyall, and Ellen Hoobler, 67- 82. Denver, Colorado: Mayer Center for Ancient and Latin American Art at the Denver Art Museum, 2025.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 77, fig. 17
creditline
Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 08:15:41.431000
sourceId
159277
dept
Art of the Americas
coll
AA - Intermediate Region
med
ceramic, slip
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
0bf699a41188db65