HM 4775

HM 4775:Bird Eating Lizard
AD 1000-1250, Mexico

Description: Appraisal96 Ochre on white bowl. Large bird eating a lizard. Line rim border. Looks as though it were totally broken at one time. Has been repaired but has four holes where pieces are missing, besides the hole, center bottom. Chipping of rim. Donated in 1982 by WIlliam P. Palmer III. From the Mimbres culture, the bowls were often found in gravesites. Certain bowls were used as mortuary vessels. These were placed over the head in burials. Their bases were ceremonially “killed” to allow the spirit of the bowl to accompany the deceased’s spirit into the future world.