The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 4, 2023

Vessel with Ballplayer

c. 600–1000

Mexico, Yucatán, Maya (Chocholá) style

(250-900)

Earthenware, pigment

Diameter: 18.1 x 15.6 cm (7 1/8 x 6 1/8 in.); Overall: 18 cm (7 1/16 in.)

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener 1990.180

Location

233 Mesoamerican and Intermediate Region

Fun Fact

This vessel was once broken into 34 pieces before being repaired.

Description

Many Mesoamerican people played ball games, using their hips rather than hands and feet to keep the heavy, solid rubber ball in play. Here a Maya ballplayer, wearing a thick protector to shield his torso from injury, dives to intercept the ball, which hovers in front of his face. The scene is situated within stepped walls, probably those of a ball court.

Provenance
?-1971
(Lee Moore: Fine Art of the Americas, Miami, FL, 1971, sold to James C. Gruener and Florence C, Gruener)
1971-1990
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
Citations
Turner, Evan H. "Acquisitions: 1990." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 2 (1991): 30-45. p. 33 www.jstor.org
Young-Sánchez, Margaret. "The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 79, no. 7 (1992): 234-75. Mentioned: cat. no. 88, p. 272, Reproduced: fig. 88, p.256 www.jstor.org
Whittington, E. Michael. The Sport of Life and Death The Mesoamerican Ballgame. London: Thames & Hudson, 2001. Mentioned: cat. no. 111, p. 237
Werness, Maline Diane. Chocholá Ceramics and the Politics of Northwestern Yucatán. 2010. Figure 86 and pp. 62, 168, 278
Exhibition history

The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 4-November 29, 1992).

The Sport of Life and Death: The Mesoamerican Ballgame. Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC (September 24-December 30, 2001); New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA (February 16-April 28, 2002).

Artlens Exhibition 2019. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1990.180