Cleveland Museum of Art

Lidded Bowl with Iguana

Date

c. 600–1100 (Thermoluminescence date, 995–1395)

Medium

ceramic, slip

Culture

Costa Rica, Southern Nicoya region

Department

Art of the Americas

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

At the time of the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, Costa Rican mythology linked iguanas to the sky and to rulers. The earlier makers of this vessel left no written records, but they may have had similar beliefs. The lizard poses as though basking in the sun, a celestial body, and assumes an aggressive stance that could be likened to a ruler's: the teeth and chin under the dewlap are displayed, Also, fine ceramics like this were buried in the graves of the high-status dead, some of them certainly leaders of the several groups that competed in the area. Green iguanas can grow to be over 6 feet long.

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