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Cylinder vase
Maya
Late Classic Period
A.D. 725–760
Place of Manufacture: El Petén, Ik' polity, Guatemala, Motul de San José area
Medium/Technique
Earthenware: orange, red, dark pink, and black on cream slip paint
Dimensions
23.5 x 12.4 cm (9 1/4 x 4 7/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Landon T. Clay
Accession Number1988.1177
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsCeramics – Pottery – Earthenware
This vase features a ritual blood sacrifice and a vision-quest dance performance by Yajawte' K'inich, ruler of the Ik' polity. The performers' fantastic garb may portray their spirit companions. The text on the tall vase records the performance's date on 7 Ok 13 Xul (May 25, 749) and states that Yajawte' K'inich danced as his "jaguar throne," the name of his spirit companion. His two associates wear equally fanciful costumes portraying a jaguar/centipede and a jaguar/eagle.
Catalogue Raisonné
MS1121; Kerr 1439
DescriptionYajaw Te' K'inich, the rotund ruler of the ancient Maya Ik' polity (present day Motul de San José, Guatemala), participates in a blood sacrifice performance on 7 Ok 13 Xul (May 25, 749) along with two men identified in the hieroglyphic captions as lords from Hix Witz and Tayasal, two dynamic polities of the time. The body of a heart-sacrificed infant is superimposed on the chest of one of the performers. They wear costumes portraying supernatural beings while the masked ruler seemingly rides a jaguar, its rear legs arching over his head. The beast’s front legs mimic those of Yajawte’ K’inich, suggesting a merging of the man and a jaguar spirit entity during the rite. A masked attendant grasps a panache of feathers, and a kneeling figure holds a small dish containing blood sacrifice implements. The hieroglyphic text painted around the vase's rim records the date and dance event and ends with the name of its main participant Yajaw Te' K'inich. The names and titles of the other participants are found in short hieroglyphic captions painted within the scene.
InscriptionsThe rim text describes the pictorial scene and includes the event's Calendar Round date, records this as a dance event, and names the principle actor K'inich Ajaw of the Ik' polity. Short texts within the scene name the participants.
ProvenanceBetween about 1974 and 1981, probably purchased in Guatemala by John B. Fulling (b. 1924 – d. 2005), The Art Collectors of November, Inc., Pompano Beach, FL; May 20, 1987, sold by John B. Fulling to Landon T. Clay, Boston; 1988, year-end gift of Landon Clay to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 25, 1989)
NOTE: This is one in a group of Maya artifacts (MFA accession nos. 1988.1169 – 1988.1299) known as the “November Collection” after John Fulling’s company, the Art Collectors of November, Inc. John Fulling sold this group of objects to MFA donor Landon Clay in 1987, and they were given to the Museum the following year.
Evidence suggests that John Fulling built the November Collection from sources in Guatemala between 1974 and 1981. Only a portion of what he acquired during this time came to the MFA in 1988. It is not possible to determine precisely which objects were acquired when or from whom.
NOTE: This is one in a group of Maya artifacts (MFA accession nos. 1988.1169 – 1988.1299) known as the “November Collection” after John Fulling’s company, the Art Collectors of November, Inc. John Fulling sold this group of objects to MFA donor Landon Clay in 1987, and they were given to the Museum the following year.
Evidence suggests that John Fulling built the November Collection from sources in Guatemala between 1974 and 1981. Only a portion of what he acquired during this time came to the MFA in 1988. It is not possible to determine precisely which objects were acquired when or from whom.