HM 5099

HM 5099:Bird Eating Fish
AD 1000-1250, Mexico

Description: Appraisal96 Faded black on white bowl. Heron (?) eating fish, center. Checkerboard design below a line / maze rim design. Repaired cracks one section. Hole, center bottom. 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.