Vessel with Dancing Maize Gods
Aj Maxam
780–810 CE
Medium
Earthenware and pigment
Dimensions
24 × 15.8 cm (9 1/2 × 6 1/4 in.)
Classification
vessel for serving drinks
Department
Arts of the Americas
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
65290
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
According to ancient Maya belief, after several failed attempts the gods succeeded in populating the earth when they created humanity out of maize, the staff of life. In the Popol Vuh, a sixteenth-century epic of the K’iche’ Maya, the death and resur¬rection of the maize god was likened to seed corn that sprouted and produced new life. This vessel from the Late Classic period (600–800) depicts a Maya ruler attired as the maize god in three almost-identical panels. On his back, the ruler wears an...