HM 4779

HM 4779:Bird and Caterpillar
AD 1000-1250, Mexico

Description: Appraisal96 Black on white bowl. Bird figure with checkerboard design atop a caterpillar. Line rim design. Badly cracked. Repaired. Chipping and flaking. 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.