Large Maya Polychrome Vessel with Deities, Late Classic, ca. A.D. 550-950

finely painted with a complex scene incorporating four events and multiple depictions of deities including the Maize god and the Hero Twins, featuring a palace scene of a lord against a jaguar skin pillow, seated on a bench throne carved with skyband signs indicating the supernatural realm, his regalia including massive feathered headdress with a long-snouted monster head, large jade necklace and jewelry, behind him a kneeling attendant (perhaps the Maize god) with tonsured head, long hank of hair swept up with monster head ornament, his body spotted and wearing a segmented belt yoke, a figure kneeling before the lord with a scorpion tail trailing from his belt, a skeletal death god crouching in front, the kneeling figure above marked by triple spots on the body, indicative of the Hero Twin Yax Balam, with jaguar skin medallion in the hair, and holding forth a small creature, behind are two registers with encounters between the Hero Twins and various Underworld figures including a long-necked spotted moan bird, the crouching God N emerging from a shell, figures emitting foul odors, and an aged seated deity holding a staff, with a Primary Standard Sequence text around the rim noting the vessel for the drinking of fresh cacao, the glyph texts in the ground noting the elite name of the vessel owner (or who is was gifted to) as indicated by the glyph lord 'ahau'.

European Private Collection, acquired in the 1970's

Emile Deletaille, Brussels, acquired from the above, 1980's

 

Baltimore, The Walters Art Museum, 2005-2010

Overall very good but has clean breaks and repairs in 5-6 lines as seen from the interior. minimal overpaint on the outside crackss, very nice overall coloring and patina and natural root mark areas, some worn patches of burnished pigment.
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This complex scene is masterfully painted with a creative spatial design of the lively encounters of the Underworld lords and the Hero Twins as referenced in the narratives of the Popul Vuh. Here the crouching figures are stacked in two tiers in animated confrontations. Interpretations of the complex figures are varied, Reents-Budet (pers.comm.) identifies the Hero Twins and a third personage behind the throne; Kerr (pers. comm.) draws on the association of the scorpion with the Maize god (as referenced on  mayavase.com, K1226, and K4565), and thus the figure shown behind the lord on the throne is the same person shown kneeling before him, both being a version of the Maize deity, the father of the Hero Twins. The essential narrative is focused on the numerous interactions of the Underworld deities with the mythical ancestors.