Tripod Rattle Bowl

Tripod Rattle Bowl

1200–1500 CE
Culture
Tarascan
Locale
Michoacán
Country
Mexico
Object
bowl, tripod
Medium
Ceramic with resist decoration
Accession Number
1986.158
Credit Line
Gift of Alice Tillet

Unknown artist, Tarascan region, western Mexico. Tripod Rattle Bowl, 1200–1500 CE. Ceramic with resist decoration, 6 ⅝ x 8 ¼ inches. Denver Art Museum Collection: Gift of Alice Tillett, 1986.158.

Dimensions
height: 6.625 in, 16.8275 cm; diameter: 8.25 in, 20.9550 cm
Department
Mayer Center, Arts of the Ancient Americas
Collection
Arts of the Ancient Americas
This object is currently on view

Tripod Rattle Bowl
Tarascan
About A.D. 1200–1500
Mexico, Michoacán
Earthenware with resist decoration
Gift of Alice Tillett, 1986.158

The Tarascan people of Michoacan were politically united under the authority of a king whose capital was the city of Tzintzuntzan, near Lake Pátzcuaro.  Tarascan kings also served as effective war leaders, successfully resisting Aztec assaults and maintaining their people’s independence until the Spanish conquest.  

Tzintzuntzan’s most impressive architectural monument is a huge, stone faced platform topped by five stepped pyramids called “yákatas.”  Tombs with rich offerings interred in the yákatas probably held the remains of Tarascan kings or nobles.  Tarascan craftsmen produced sophisticated tools and ornaments in obsidian, gold, copper, shell, and turquoise.  They also manufactured highly distinctive ceramic forms with painted and smoke-decorated surfaces.   This bowl features large, swollen hollow legs containing pellets that rattle when it is moved.  Its surface was coated with a pale slip and burnished before firing.   After cooling, a pattern was painted on using liquid clay or some other soluble material.  The vessel was then smoked over a fire to darken the unprotected surfaces.  When the resist material was washed off, the boldly contrasting pattern was revealed.