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Codex-style plate
Maya
Late Classic Period
A.D. 680–740
Place of Manufacture: Department of El Petén, Guatemala, southern Mirador Basin
Medium/Technique
Earthenware: red and black on cream slip paint
Dimensions
5.8 x 32 cm (2 5/16 x 12 5/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Landon T. Clay
Accession Number1993.565
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsCeramics – Pottery – Earthenware
The bejeweled Maize god emerges from the Underworld through a cracked turtle shell, symbolizing the earth. The Hero Twins pour water onto their father to facilitate his resurrection, as Maya farmers water maize seeds to help them sprout.
Catalogue Raisonné
MS1840; Kerr 1892
DescriptionCodex-style plate depicting the resurrection of the Maize god emerging from the earth symbolized by a turtle carapace. His sons the Hero Twins aid in his emergence from death/ the underworld. The hieroglyphic texts include the Dedicatory Phrase (formerly called the Primary Standard Sequence [PSS]), here ending with the name of the plate's owner/patron Toham K'awiil, the son of Yoaat Bahlam, ruler of the Chatan place (an as-yet unidentified locale in the political sphere of the Kaan polity [centered at Calakmul, Mexico] and speculated to be in the Mirador Basin, perhaps the archaeological site of El Tintal). Short nominal phrases in the scene name the Maize god (Hun Ajaw Itsamnaaj) and his sons the Hero Twins (Jun Ajaw and Yax Bahlam).
Provenance1981, published by Francis Robicsek and Donald M. Hales [see note]. 1984, photographed by Justin Kerr, New York (Kerr Photographic Archive K1892). June 18, 1986, sold by Alphonse Jax (dealer), New York, to Landon T. Clay, New Hampshire; 1993, gift of Landon T. Clay to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 22, 1993)
NOTE: Francis Robicsek and Donald M. Hales, The Maya Book of the Dead: The Ceramic Codex (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Art Museum, 1981), pp. 91, 94, 117, vessel no. 117, illustrated. No location given.
NOTE: Francis Robicsek and Donald M. Hales, The Maya Book of the Dead: The Ceramic Codex (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Art Museum, 1981), pp. 91, 94, 117, vessel no. 117, illustrated. No location given.