Kislak, Maya Objects

Photo Collection of Stephanie Wood

Kislak Collection -- Maya Objects

SMALL VASE WITH HIGH-RELIEF "DIVING GOD"
Mexico, Quintana Roo
Postclassic Maya
C.E. 1200-1400
Unslipped red ceramic with "post-fire" polychrome pigment
Hts: 11.4 cm (4.5"); 11 cm (4"); 9.3 cm (3.75")

Group of barrel-shaped effigy vases with raised ring bases. Two of them have flat lids with peaked handles. All have elaborate applied high-relief "diving god" figures, with their legs directed upward. Two of these deities wear eagle helmets. All hold unidentified offerings in their hands at the base of the images. The painted iconography is also quite intricate.

These are from a set of seven such miniature vases found near Tulum, the best known of which is at the Princeton University Art Gallery. They represent late Mexican Mixtec influence in the Yucatan peninsula, and are contemporary with the late Maya site of Mayapan. What is astonishing is the brilliant preser-vation of the paint?red, yellow, black, white, and "Maya blue"--which was not fired onto the ceramic (hence, "post-fire" pigment).

[Source: http://www.jayikislakfoundation.org/collections_maya3.html]

"Diving or Descending God figures, present on several buildings at Tulúm, also appear at Cobá and Sayil. They may represent the Maya bee god Ah Muzencab, known from the Madrid Codex. Their prominence at Tulúm and Cobá suggests the economic importance of honey in the province of Ecab (Henderson 1981). Other researchers identify the Diving God as Xux Ek, the Maya 'Wasp Star' equivalent to Venus (A. Miller 1974)."

[Source: Athena Review Image Archive, http://www.athenapub.com/tuldivg1.htm]

The Jay I. Kislak Collection of pre-Columbian cultural heritage materials is owned by the Library of Congress. Photograph shot and presented here with permission.