Picture Worlds: Greek, Maya, and Moche Pottery at the Getty Villa

*Drinking Vessel with the Departure and Recovery of Helen*
Greek, made in Athens, Greece, about 490 BCE, Signed by Hieron as potter and Makron as painter
Ceramic, Red Figure
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Bartlett Collection.
Museum purchase with funds from the Francis Bartlett Donation of 1912
Photograph: © 2024 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
VEX.2024.3.63

Picture Worlds

Greek, Maya, and Moche Pottery

April 10, 2024 – July 29, 2024

Mighty deities, brave heroes, and fantastic beings adorn the terracotta vessels of the ancient Greeks in the Mediterranean, the Maya in central America, and the Moche of northern Peru. This exhibition juxtaposes these three distinct ceramic traditions and explores the ways in which painted pottery served as a dynamic means of storytelling and social engagement.

This exhibition is presented in English and Spanish.

Generous support provided by Jeffrey P. Cunard and the Getty Patron Program.

Learn more

The Getty Villa

17985 E Pacific Coast Hwy, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272

Exhibition Preview

*Cup with the Deeds of Theseus*
Greek, made in Athens, Greece, 440-430 BCE
Attributed to the Codrus Painter
Terracotta
The British Museum, London, 1859,0302.2
Image: © The Trustees of the British Museum. All rights reserved
VEX.2024.3.18

*Mixing Bowl with Poseidon and Theseus*
Greek, made in Athens, Greece, 480-470 BCE
Attributed to the Harrow Painter
Terracotta
Harvard Art Museums / Arthur M. Sackler Museum,
Cambridge, MA. Bequest of David M. Robinson
Image: © Presidents and Fellows of Harvard College
VEX.2024.3.31

*Stirrup-Spout Vessel with a Presentation of Shells*
Moche, made in northern Peru, 500-800 CE
Terracotta
Museo Larco, Lima, Peru, ML013653
VEX.2024.3.11

*Plate with Hunters Shooting a Supernatural Bird,*
Maya, made in Belize, Guatemala, or Mexico, 600-900 CE
Terracotta
Museo Maya de Cancún, Secretaría de Cultura-Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia
Image: © D.R. Secretaría de Cultura-INAH- MEX.
Ignacio Guevara
VEX.2024.3.10

*Drinking Vessel with the Maize God and Other Supernaturals*
Maya, probably made in El Zotz, Guatemala, 600-700 CE
Ceramic with polychrome slip
Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey. Gift of
Stephanie H. Bernheim and Leonard H. Bernheim Jr. in honor of Gillett G. Griffin, 2005-127
VEX.2024.3.59

*Storage Jar with the Ransom of Hektor*
Greek, made in Athens, Greece, 520-510 BCE
Wheel-thrown, slip decorated earthenware
Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio. Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment.
Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, 1972.54
Photo: Richard Goodbody, New York
VEX.2024.3.56

*Stirrup-Spout Vessel with Lima Bean Warriors*
Moche, made in northern Peru, 650-800 CE
Ceramic and pigment
The Art Institute of Chicago. Kate S. Buckingham Endowment, 1955.2274
Image:The Art Institute of Chicago / Art Resource, NY
VEX.2024.3.36

*Vessel with a Mother, a Baby, and a Curer*
Moche, made in El Brujo, Peru, 300-450 CE
Terracotta
Complejo Arqueológico El Brujo-Museo Cao.
Ministry of Culture, Peru
Image courtesy Ministerio de Cultura, Museo
Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia del Perú, Lima / Museo Cao
VEX.2024.3.16

*Drinking Vessel with a Palace Scene*
Maya, made in Motul de San José, 650-750 CE
Signed by Kuluub as painter
Ceramic
Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Pre-Columbian Collection, Washington, D.C.
Image: © Dumbarton Oaks, Pre-Columbian Collection, Washington, D.C.
VEX.2024.3.60

*Drinking Vessel with* Way Figures
Maya, probably made in Motul de San José, Guatemala, about 755 CE
Signed by Mo(?)-n Buluch Laj as painter
Ceramic with polychrome slip
Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey. Museum purchase. Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund, y1993-17
VEX.2024.3.48

*Vessel in the Form of a Warrior Duck*
Moche, made in Huacas de Moche, Peru, 500-650 CE
Terracotta, with mother of pearl inlay
Museo Arqueológico “Santiago Uceda Castillo.”
Ministry of Culture of Peru
VEX.2024.3.15

*Cup with Helen and Menelaos between Battle Scenes*
Greek, made in Athens, Greece, 540-530 BCE
Terracotta
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Rogers Fund, 1944, 44.11.1
Image: www.metmuseum.org
VEX.2024.3.53

Installation view of Picture Worlds: Greek, Maya, and Moche Pottery, from left: Drinking Vessel with a Palace Scene, Maya, 650-750 CE, signed by Kuluub as painter (Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. Pre-Columbian Collection, Washington, D.C.); Flared Bowl with Weavers, Moche, 500-800 CE (British Museum, London. Am1913, 1025.1); Cup with a Symposion Scene, Greek, 480 BCE, signed by Hieron as potter and attributed to Makron as painter (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Rogers Fund, 1920, 20.246)

Installation view of Picture Worlds: Greek, Maya, and Moche Pottery, center: Stirrup-Spout Vessel with Wrinkle Face Fighting Opponents, Moche, 500-800 CE (Fowler Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert L. Lucas Jr.); Drinking Vessel with Hunters Shooting Waterbirds, Maya, 600-900 CE (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Museum purchase funded by “One Great Night in November, 1989”, 89.264); Drinking Vessel with the Departure and Recovery of Helen, Greek, about 490 BCE, signed by Hieron as potter and Makron as painter (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Bartlett Collection. Museum purchase with funds from the Francis Bartlett Donation of 1912); right: Storage Jar with the Ransom of Hektor, Greek, 520-510 BCE (Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio. Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment. Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, 1972.54)

Installation view of Picture Worlds: Greek, Maya, and Moche Pottery, center: Drinking Vessel with the Departure and Recovery of Helen, Greek, about 490 BCE, signed by Hieron as potter and Makron as painter (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Bartlett Collection. Museum purchase with funds from the Francis Bartlett Donation of 1912); Drinking Vessel with Hunters Shooting Waterbirds, Maya, 600-900 CE (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Museum purchase funded by “One Great Night in November, 1989”, 89.264); Stirrup-Spout Vessel with Wrinkle Face Fighting Opponents, Moche, 500-800 CE (Fowler Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert L. Lucas Jr.); right: Storage Jar with the Ransom of Hektor, Greek, 520-510 BCE (Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio. Purchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment. Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey, 1972.54)

Installation view of Picture Worlds: Greek, Maya, and Moche Pottery, center: Stirrup-Spout Vessel with the Burial Theme, Moche, 650-800 CE (Fowler Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Herbert L. Lucas Jr.); Stirrup-Spout Vessel with a Presentation of Shells, Moche, 500-800 CE (Museo Larco, Lima, Peru. ML013653)

Installation view of Picture Worlds: Greek, Maya, and Moche Pottery, left: Mixing Bowl with Poseidon and Theseus, Greek, 480-470 BCE, attributed to the Harrow Painter (Harvard Art Museums / Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, MA. Bequest of David M. Robinson); center left: Tripod Vessel with a Supernatural Palace Scene and Cacao Tree, Maya, 750-850 CE (Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Purchased with funds provided by Camilla Chandler Frost); right: Cup in the form of a Hoof with a Shepherd and Cattle, Greek, 470-460 BCE, attributed to a painter recalling the Brygos Painter (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Fletcher Fund, 1938, 38. 11.2); Lidded Bowl with a Handle in the Form of a Jaguar, Maya, 250-500 CE (Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Purchased with fund provided by Camilla Chandler Frost); Vessel in the Form of a Warrior Duck, Moche, 500-650 CE (Museo Arqueológico “Santiago Uceda Castillo”. Ministry of Culture of Peru)

News 15Editorial TeamJuly 3, 2024Art of the Ancestors, Steven G. Alpert, Asian Art, Island Southeast Asian Art, Oceanic Art, Asiatica, Ethnographica, Ethnographic Art, Art Collection, Fine Art, Primitive Art, Indonesian Art, Tribal Art, Eyes of the Ancestors, Dr. Reimar Schefold