Vessel With Bat Heads
REPRODUCTION of "vessel with Bat Heads" Copan,Guatemala. Polychrome pot with bat glyphs.
Original is at LAMCA (Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art)
- Object: Vessel With Bat Heads
- Artist: Patricia Martin Morales
- Circa: 2015
- Dimensions: 16.5cm D x14.5cmH
- Culture Area: Mesoamerica / central america
- Cultural Group: Maya
- Cultural Context: In the narratives of the Post Classic K’iche’ Kingdom in Guatemala’s western highland mountains, the sacred text of the Maya people, the Popol Vuh, tells a particular story about the Camaztoz. The Camazotz are the bat-like monsters encountered by the Maya hero twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque during their route in the underworld of Xibalba. The twins were forced to spend the night in the House of Bats. There they squeezed themselves into their own blowguns in order to defend and hide themselves from the circling bats. Hunahpu decided to stick his head out of the blowgun to see if the sun had risen, and Camazotz immediately snatched off his head and carried it to the ball court where it was to be used as the ball during the god’s next ballgame.
- Donor: Museum Purchase
- Catalog #: 115.066