Skip to Main Content

Bowl with Fish

c. 1000–1150
pottery
Overall: 10.5 x 24.5 cm (4 1/8 x 9 5/8 in.)
Charles W. Harkness Endowment Fund 1930.49
Location: not on view
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.

Download, Print and Share

Did You Know?

Southwest freshwater garfish or coastal Pacific swordfish? Ancient motifs traveled via trade and cultural exchange.

Description

The Mogollon of New Mexico's Mimbres region produced thousands of bowls painted with black-and-white designs on their interiors. The designs range from elegant geometric motifs to abstract humans and animals. Meaning may have dwelled in part in the domed shape of the bowls, which often were ritually punctured before they were placed over the heads of the deceased in graves. Perhaps, like modern Pueblo peoples, the Mimbres believed that the sky was a dome pierced to allow for passage between worlds, as from the realm of the living to the dead.
Bowl with Fish

Bowl with Fish

c. 1000–1150

Southwest, Mogollan, Mimbres, Pre-Contact Period

See Also

Visually Similar Artworks

Contact us

The information about this object, including provenance, may not be currently accurate. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@clevelandart.org.

To request more information about this object, study images, or bibliography, contact the Ingalls Library Reference Desk.

All images and data available through Open Access can be downloaded for free. For images not available through Open Access, a detail image, or any image with a color bar, request a digital file from Image Services.