Mayan Cylinder vase

Mayan polychrome decorated cylinder vase.

The vase has an elaborately painted scene, depicting a seated Deity, wearing a zoomorphic mask and huge feathered headdress, in conversation with standing chief making offerings.

Ceramic vessels nourished in both life and death: they held food and drink for daily life, but also offerings in dedicatory caches and burials, which range from the simplest graves to the richest royal tombs.

  • Pottery

  • 16,5 x 9 cm

  • 600 - 900 AD

  • Armando A. Lara 1940 -1950s

    Howard S Rose Gallery NY

  • € 3750,—

Beautifully painted cylinder vases were used by wealthy, royal members of Maya society. They used the vases for drinking chocolate, alcoholic, and hot masa (corn-based) beverages. The scene painted on this vase includes a chief, talking ( speech scroll) to a seated God, with large speech scroll.

Although painting was one of the main forms of artistic expression among the Maya, very few of their frescoes and illustrated books still exist. Painted ceramics were status symbols used by the wealthy classes. This pottery survived because it was preserved in tombs. The Maya artists who made the pottery created it by hand using a coil method. Some of the finest pots include inscriptions that suggest they were made by members of the royal family. The artists may have been sons who were not in line to become a king. All master pottery painters belonged to the elite class of Maya society and were educated in hieroglyphic writing.