Most containers that survive from the Taíno civilizations of the ancestral Caribbean islands are ceramic vessels. While some feature whole or partial depictions of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic characters, many show the Taíno artists’ abilities to distill figural imagery into abstract and geometric motifs. Hands, eyes, gaping or grimacing mouths, and stylized linear passages appear in the modeled ceramic bottles and bowls.
Credit: Purchase, Mary R. Morgan, Mary O'Boyle II and Mr. and Mrs. Frederick E. Landmann Gifts; The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Gift of Nelson A. Rockefeller and Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, by exchange, and Gift of Nathan Cummings, by exchange, 1984
13th-15th century
Ceramic
38.1cm
1984.201
Image and text © Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019
Where you'll find this
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Permanent collection