Urn
Artist/Maker
Maya (archaeological culture)
(Mesoamerica)
Dateca. 600-900
Mediumpottery
DimensionsOverall: 13 x 18 5/8 x 15 in. (33 x 47.3 x 38.1 cm)
ClassificationsContainers
Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Stoetzer
Terms
Object number94.0054.01
DescriptionLike many incense burners and urns from the Maya area, spikes protrude from this piece just as they do on the trunk of an immature ceiba (Ceiba pentandra) tree, the world tree in Maya cosmology. This piece also portrays the Mesoamerican understanding of life and death – on one side of the vessel is a death mask, on the other is a human or god face. A knotted rope connects the two. The imagery suggests the vessel was made or used in rituals that connected the Underworld of death with the upper world of the living.On View
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