Mayan Art (4)


Source: Linda Schele and Mary Ellen Miller. The Blood of Kings; Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art. Fort Worth: Kimbell Art Museum, 1986, p. 240, plate 94.
Notes: This is a figurine of a captive; it is also hollow because it was used as a reliquary for ritual objects or ashes. This ceramic figurine is from Campeche, México, on the Gulf Coast. It dates from the late Classic period (700 - 900). It is housed in the Baltimore Museum of Art. The realism of this tortured Jaina warrior reinforces the detailed realistic aspect of Mayan art. (Jaina refers to the place in México where it and other Mayan objects were found.) He has been scalped (hair at back of neck); his hands and feet were also tortured; and he is about to be burned alive. Or, as suggested by the reliquary hole in his stomach, he will be disembowled before being burned.
Latin American humanities motifs: religio; realism; war