Artisan
Unknown Artist
250–600 CE
Medium
earthenware with colored slips
Dimensions
59 × 26 × 22 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
Art of the Americas
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
1994.12.2
About this artwork
These figures represent the supernatural patrons of the visual arts and writing: the brothers Hun Batz and Hun Chuen ("One Monkey" and "One Artisan"). The two were refined artists but also bullies who tormented their younger brothers, who took revenge by transforming their elders into monkeys. Many Maya representations of the painter-scribes immortalize this fate by depicting the pair with both simian and human features, as here. The brothers are shown engaged in artistic or scribal pursuits. Si...