Tripod Rattle Bowl
Unknown artist, Tarascan region, western Mexico. Tripod Rattle Bowl, 1200–1500 CE. Ceramic with resist decoration, 6 ⅝ x 8 ¼ inches. Denver Art Museum Collection: Gift of Alice Tillett, 1986.158.
Tripod Rattle Bowl
Tarascan
About A.D. 1200–1500
Mexico, Michoacán
Earthenware with resist decoration
Gift of Alice Tillett, 1986.158
The Tarascan people of Michoacan were politically united under the authority of a king whose capital was the city of Tzintzuntzan, near Lake Pátzcuaro. Tarascan kings also served as effective war leaders, successfully resisting Aztec assaults and maintaining their people’s independence until the Spanish conquest.
Tzintzuntzan’s most impressive architectural monument is a huge, stone faced platform topped by five stepped pyramids called “yákatas.” Tombs with rich offerings interred in the yákatas probably held the remains of Tarascan kings or nobles. Tarascan craftsmen produced sophisticated tools and ornaments in obsidian, gold, copper, shell, and turquoise. They also manufactured highly distinctive ceramic forms with painted and smoke-decorated surfaces. This bowl features large, swollen hollow legs containing pellets that rattle when it is moved. Its surface was coated with a pale slip and burnished before firing. After cooling, a pattern was painted on using liquid clay or some other soluble material. The vessel was then smoked over a fire to darken the unprotected surfaces. When the resist material was washed off, the boldly contrasting pattern was revealed.