MAYA CARVED VASE, CHOCHOLÁ STYLE LATE CLASSIC, CIRCA AD 550 - 950

The carved vessels of the Chocholá style from the western Yucatan region are renown for their deeply sculpted and refined style reminiscent of the master carving of important stone reliefs. Working in leather-hard clay, the artist modeled a sensitive portrait of a young woman in the portal of a waterlily cartouche. Her diminutive left hand holds the edge of the cartouche as if she is leaning outward, and her tiny right hand is shown before her face grasping the vegetal frond incised in the background. The edges of the cartouche taper into billowing wisps as if it is floating on the surface of the vase. The waterlily cartouche is a window into the mythical scenes of the watery underworld.

The woman's profile shows her high cheekbones, almond-shaped eye and sloping forehead with high plaits of her coiffure wrapped by textured headbands. She wears a finely woven net quechquemitl, bead necklace and large ear ornament with tubular extension. The reverse is deeply carved with a rectangular panel of nine glyphs in three columns, referring to "his/her cup", followed by a long name phrase including reference to a location, and "is its holy name". 

For similar vessels of the Chocholá style, see Coe, The Maya Scribe, New York, 1973, nos. 53-65, particularly no. 61, for the flat-bottomed vase in the Art Institute of Chicago (1969.241).