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Tripod cylinder vase
Maya
Late Classic Period
A.D. 650–780
Object Place: Motul de San José area, Department of El Petén, Guatemala
Medium/Technique
Earthenware with red, orange, black and rose on white slip decoration
Dimensions
Overall: 17.1 x 11.9 cm (6 3/4 x 4 11/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Lavinia and Landon T. Clay
Accession Number2003.777
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsCeramics – Pottery – Earthenware
This vase features a ritual blood sacrifice and a vision-quest dance performance by Yajawte' K'inich, ruler of the Ik' polity. The performers' fantastic garb may portray their spirit companions. The text on the tall vase records the performance's date on 7 Ok 13 Xul (May 25, 749) and states that Yajawte' K'inich danced as his "jaguar throne," the name of his spirit companion. His two associates wear equally fanciful costumes portraying a jaguar/centipede and a jaguar/eagle.
Catalogue Raisonné
MS0031
DescriptionOn this vase Yajawte' K'inich, the k'uhul ajaw (divine ruler) of the Ik' polity, undergoes a vision-quest rite, perhaps on the date 7 Ok 13 Xul (9.15.18.0.10 in the Maya Long Count calendar or 25 May A.D. 749). Here, he wears a fantastic jaguar-crustacean outfit and stares into a divination mirror held by an attendant. This important ritual may have been part of the accession to kingship.
ProvenanceBy the late 1970s, Lavinia and Landon T. Clay, New Hampshire; 2003, year-end gift of Lavinia and Landon T. Clay to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 21, 2004)