Ceramic jar
Reproduction Mesoamerica/Maya ceramic jar no lid (Codex Vessel) from Calakmul, Campeche.
Mayan ceramics of the Classic period are very highly appreciated due to the skill with which artists painted scenes on their sides. It is know as "codex type", because the precision and quality in design are similar to those of the authors of native books. This vessel from tomb 1 of Calakmul was part of a funeral furnishing, and shows the dignitary who was buried there, lying on a pile of sacred objects where a large mask can be seen. The scene is accompanied by the typical writing of the Maya.
- Object: Ceramic jar
- Artist: -
- Circa: 0-750 CE
- Dimensions: H 15.5 mm W 11.3 mm
- Culture Area: Mesoamerica
- Cultural Group: Maya
- Cultural Context: Among the vessels recovered in Calakmul were located four showing different narratives or passages from the story of el Maiz de Dios {God of Maize). Among them was this jar, located in Tomb 1, which possibly contained a cocoa beverage. Cocoa beverages were favored among kings and the elite. A series of five episodes, in the Popul Vuh, detail the Maize God's journey through the underworld: 1) Death and sacrifice of the God, This event is not depicted in pottery but in the bones of Tikal In them it can be seen how the boat sinking in the water inside. 2) Revival of el Maiz de Dios, where intervenes a be aquatic or Monster Navy is against which fights and beat, that has always been interpreted by specialists in iconography as a shark. 3) Clothing of the God, bare-chested women decorate you with their distinctive attributes. Thus, shows how follow you the belt carrying the head of the shark up a shell which symbolizes the aquatic area in the central part. 4) canoe trip, and 5) Renaissance of el Maiz de Dias of the interior of the Earth, commonly symbolized through the shell of a turtle (Quenon and Le Fort, 1997;) Velasquez Garda, 2009). The vessel located in Tomb 1 of Calakmul (Folan and Morales, 1996) would be part of the second episode of the story. El Maiz de Dios is reborn of an aquatic area on which sits a stark and vegetable skull which perhaps refers to the place of the resurrection. The K2723 vase features a design so similar quality of line and pictorial composition that, as noted by Velasquez Garda {2008), both could be manufactured by the same master. The text of both pieces reveals the importance of the owner of these vessels, because in addition to specify that they are to drink the fruit of cacao, they mentioned the Lord, K'uhul chatan winik, sak wahyis, "Divine Lord of Chatan, white Nagual" (Folan and Morales, 1996).
- Donor: Museum purchase
- Catalog #: 115.055