The Fenton Vase
- Gallery: Room 1
- Culture: Late Classic Maya
- Date: 600-800
- Object type: beaker
- Materials: pottery
- Museum number: Am1930,F.1
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
Before you is The Fenton Vase, a remarkable polychrome pottery piece from the Late Classic Maya period, around 600 to 800 AD. This beautifully painted beaker shows a scene where a kneeling figure delivers a basket filled with tamales to a seated nobleman. Behind him sits a scribe, recording the event.
The vase’s painted surface features rich details—elaborate turbans, jewelry, and clothing worn by the figures. Above the basket are six hieroglyphs that provide the noble's name and title, while others relate to the characters involved.
Created in Nebaj, it is part of a collection formed by Charles Ludwig Fenton and bought by the museum in 1930. The artwork reflects how Maya artists used painted vases to document key events, names, and social interactions with a combination of imagery and text.
See it in person
The Fenton Vase is on display in Room 1 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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