FILTER RESULTS
Palma: Eagle Attacking a Skull
300-900Precolumbian
10 7/16 x 4 3/4 x 6 11/16 in. (26.5 x 12 x 17 cm)
Veracruz artist
Mexico
Veracruz; made in Mexico
Object Type:
Stonework
Medium and Support:
Limestone
Credit Line:
R. T. Miller Fund
Accession Number:
1944.66
Location: Currently on view
In the Mesoamerican ballgame, players on the losing team were sometimes sacrificed by decapitation in rituals following the game. Skull racks displaying decapitated heads were often located adjacent to ball courts. This ceremonial stone palma (a stone version of a piece of the ballplayer’s equipment) depicts an eagle attacking a human skull. This is a common motif in ballgame imagery and may reference the flesh-eating birds that gorged themselves on the bodies of the sacrificed victims.
[Gallery label text, 2009]
[Gallery label text, 2009]
Provenance
Adelaide Frank, Leonia, NJ and Mexico; purchased from her by Brummer Gallery, New York, January 25, 1936 [catalogue number N3755]; purchased from them by the Gallery in 1944
Keywords
Click a term to view the records with the same keyword
Additional Images
Click an image to view a larger version
Exhibition List
This object was included in the following exhibitions:
- Pre-Columbian Art 3/15/1940 - 4/30/1940
- Central American Objects 3/1/1942 - 4/30/1942
- Pre-Spanish & American Indian Art Memorial Art Gallery 10/6/1944 - 00/00/00
- An Animal Hunt in Art 4/7/1951 - 4/29/1951
- European Paintings from the Rochester Memorial Art Gallery 1/15/1967 - 9/30/1967
Bibliography
This object has the following bibliographic references:
- Article Author: Schilling, Susan E.. Article Scope: Article and reproduction. Susan Dodge Peters, ed. Memorial Art Gallery: An Introduction to the Collection. New York, New York: Memorial Art Gallery in association with Hudson Hills Press, 1988. Page Number: 252-253
- Article Scope: Reproduction only. Rochester Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester Handbook. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 1961.
- Article Scope: Mention. Elizabeth Brayer. Magnum Opus: The Story of the Memorial Art Gallery, 1913-1988. Rochester, NY: Memorial Art Gallery, 1988.
- Pre-Columbian Art. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles County Museum, 1940.
Portfolio List
Click a portfolio name to view all the objects in that portfolio
This object is a member of the following portfolios:
Web Links
See links to web pages and lesson plans