ULÚA MARBLE BOWL WITH EFFIGY HANDLESLATE CLASSIC, CIRCA AD 550-950 |

Fine Arts of Ancient Lands, New York, reportedly acquired in the 1970s from Stendahl Galleries, Los Angeles
Herbert L. Lucas, Los Angeles, acquired from the above before 1982
American Private Collection, acquired from the above 

Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Olmec, Maya, Teotihuacan, Aztec: Pre-Columbian Art of Mesoamerica, February 3-March 30, 1986
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, On the Edge of the Maya World: Stone Vases from the Ulúa Valley, Honduras, February 23 - May 31, 1992
Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, long term loan, 1982 - November 5, 1986, and October 11, 2000 - November 17, 2004

Smith College Museum of Art, ed., Olmec, Maya, Teotihuacan, Aztec: Pre-Columbian Art of Mesoamerica, Northampton, 1986, no. 82

Excellent condition overall. A few minor chips in places in lower rim as expected per ancient wear. Appears completely intact, the surface shows a classic lustrous polish that also has areas of original encrustation appearing in crevices and the interior overall. Excellent and consistently detailed carving overall. Has nice root marks.
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The lustrous white stone vessels from the Ulúa Valley region of Honduras are well known for their alluring fluid low relief carvings and highly modelled zoomorphic handles. Carved from marble, they were made to feature both the creamy texture and warm translucency of the stone’s surface. As part of a long tradition of Mesoamerican lapidary art, vessels such as the Ulúa examples show a remarkable ability of the ancient craftsman to model in stone.

First documented in the late nineteenth century, Ulúa style vessels represent a small corpus of fewer than 200 examples. They were valued luxury goods traded in a broad geographic range from Costa Rica in the south to the Central Maya lowland in the north. Vessels have been generally categorized into five groups by the variety of handle styles, but they are highly consistent in the overall design motifs of frontal and profile zoomorphic heads flanked by scrolls, scales, and scalloped forms.

Research on Ulúa vessels by Luke and Tykot has focused on the Travesia region, long regarded as an important site of a concentrated production of these beautiful bowls. They describe the integrative potential of specialized craftsmanship between communities; in particular, how the Ulúa style was developed and refined by generations of artisans, creating a trademark to celebrate Travesia as a sacred center (Luke and Tykot, "Celebrating Place Through Luxury Craft Production, Travesia and Ulua style marble vases", Ancient Mesoamerica, Vol. 18, No. 2, Fall 2007, p. 316). As Travesia was located in a prime cacao growing area of the Ulúa valley, access and control of this highly valued item contributed to the prominence of the community.

The low walls of this tripod bowl are carved with a frontal face marked by heavy-lidded oval eyes with tiny drilled pupils. A scrolling moustache brackets the toothy mouth of the face and confronted profile heads of a zoomorphic creature flank the sides. The uplifted snout blends its scrolled end into the overlapping scales of the horizontal band. Each massive handle depicts a crouching feline with its raised head snarling, and its body overlaid with the zoomorphic head found on the walls of the vessel.

A fine tall Ulúa vessel with similar handles is in the Cleveland Museum of Art, (inv. no. 1990.9); for other examples, see Kelemen, Medieval American Art, New York, 1944, pls. 94-95.