id: 159277 accession number: 1995.72 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1995.72 updated: 2022-01-04 17:20:32.587000 Lidded Bowl with Iguana, c. 600–1100 (Thermoluminescence date, 995–1395). Costa Rica, Southern Nicoya region, 7th-12th century. 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 title: Lidded Bowl with Iguana title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 600–1100 (Thermoluminescence date, 995–1395) creation date earliest: 600 creation date latest: 1100 current location: 233 Mesoamerican and Intermediate Region creditline: Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund copyright: --- culture: Costa Rica, Southern Nicoya region, 7th-12th century technique: ceramic, slip department: Art of the Americas collection: AA - Intermediate Region type: Ceramic find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: 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.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Update on pre-acquisition history pending. date: footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1995- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: Green iguanas can grow to be over 6 feet long. digital description: wall 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. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Cleveland Museum of Art, “The Cleveland Museum of Art Acquires Major Works,” December 20, 1995, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. page number: url: https://archive.org/details/cmapr4002 Extrait de la Gazette des Beaux Arts (March, 1996) . page number: p. 55 url: "Opening of Pre-Columbian Galleries at Cleveland." Tribal Arts. (Winter, 1997). page number: url: Hopper, Robin. Functional Pottery: Form and Aesthetic in Pots of Purpose. London: A. & C. Black, 2000. page number: p. 106 url: May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. page number: pp. 97-98, 220, no. 108 url: Cleveland Museum of Art, David Franklin, and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. page number: pp. 66-7 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1995.72/1995.72_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1995.72/1995.72_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1995.72/1995.72_full.tif