The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Tripod Bowl

600–1000

Honduras, Ulúa Valley, 7th-10th century

marble
Overall: 8.1 x 6.9 x 10.9 cm (3 3/16 x 2 11/16 x 4 5/16 in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener 1990.171
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

One of two vessels that were the first ancient American artworks collected by James and Florence Gruener.

Description

Between about 600 and 800, white marble vessels carved in dense relief on their outer surfaces were a form of luxury and wealth in the Ulúa region of Honduras. Two confronting profile zoomorphic heads occur on each side of this example, between three-dimensional handles shaped as bat heads. Originally the vessel may have been covered with stucco and brightly painted.
  • ?-1936
    Payne Collection, Springfield, IL, sold to James C. and Florence C. Gruener
    1936-1990
    James C. [1903-1990] and Florence C. [1908-1982] Gruener, Cleveland, OH, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1990-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Stone, Doris. Masters in Marble. [New Orleans]: Dept. of Middle American Research, Tulane University, 1938. p. 45
    Young-Sánchez, Margaret. "The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 79, no. 7 (September 1992): 234-75. Reproduced: p. 236, fig. 93 www.jstor.org
    Luke, Christina Marie. Ulúa Style Marble Vases. 2002. p. 333, fig. E.16- E.17
  • On the Edge of the Maya World: Stone Vases from the Ulua Valley, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX (February 23- May 31, 1993).
    The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 4 - November 29, 1992).
    Art of the Americas, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 9, 1945-January 6, 1946).
  • {{cite web|title=Tripod Bowl|url=false|author=|year=600–1000|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1990.171