Mysteries of the Maize God
Author(s): Bryan R. Just
Source: Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University, Vol. 68 (2009), pp. 2-15
Published by: Princeton University Art Museum
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scene. Maya, El Zotz or vicinity (?), Peten, Guatemala.
a mythic
vessel depicting
Late Classic, A.D.
Figure i. Cylinder
Ceramic with polychrome
and Leonard H. Bernheim
slip, h. 21.5 cm., diam. 15.0 cm. Gift of Stephanie H. Bernheim
Gillett G. Griffin (2005-127).
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650?800.
Jr. in honor
of
Mysteries
Bryan
R.
of theMaize
God
Just
In 2005 the Princeton University Art Museum welcomed
the gift of an exquisite Late Classic (A.D. 600-800) Maya vase
from Stephanie H. Bernheim and Leonard H. Bernheim Jr.
in honor of Gillett G. Griffin (cover, figs. 1,12,13).1 The ves
sel, intended for drinking chocolate, ismasterfully painted,
with
sure,fluid lines effortlessly suggesting graceful motion
and figural interaction and a keen sense of cylindrical com
position, with figural groups and hieroglyphic texts paced
to what can been seen from a particular view.
it
is in near pristine condition, with no restoration
Moreover,
no
and
significant change in original coloration. The slip
according
decoration makes balanced use ofmultiple
orange
tones,
black-brown
form
outlines,
colors, including
and white
accents.
This palette and distinctive glyphic style is known from a
number of extant vessels, all probably thework of a single
city or region; as has been proposed recently, the stylemay
center near the
be associated with El Zotz, a medium-sized
in
of
Tikal
northern
Guatemala.2
ancient
great
metropolis
America. Among the Late Classic Maya, however, virtually
no evidence exists to indicate maize was prepared in this
form.4 Instead, the ancient Maya consumed maize primarily
as 'ul (atole), a gruel-like beverage, or as waaj (tamales),lumps
of dough stuffedwith meat or other fillings and drizzled
with sauce. Although standard dedicatory texts on cylinder
vessels prove chocolate
(kakaw) was the most common
intended beverage, some vessels include texts specifying
theywere for 'ul, including an incised, lidded vessel that is a
promised bequest to the Princeton University Art Museum
from the collection of Gillett G. Griffin.5 In addition to
hieroglyphic references, food is also portrayed in a number
of courtly scenes on Maya vessels. On a drinking vessel from
Tikal in the collection, for example, a tripod plate heaped with
sauce-glazed tamales rests beside a cup of frothy chocolate
just beneath a seated lord (fig. 2).6
The use of two distinct calligraphic styles for the dedicatory
rim text and narrative captions, the masterful figural ren
figures with both a sense of mass and an
dering?imbuing
a sophisticated narrative con
effortless,subtlemobility?and
of
three
linked
figural compositions and rarely attested
sisting
"quotative" inscriptions, all contribute to the exceptional
character of this singularwork ofMaya art.
Despite excellent preservation and a relatively naturalistic,
uncluttered rendition, the subject of the vessel has eluded
*nve interpretation.3Various aspects of the inscription
resist
^ ferment,
and
the particular
narrative
presentation
has no correlates in the known corpus ofMaya art. Still, it is
clear from certain iconographic details of the characters that
the vessel depicts a key episode in the robust mythological
of the most important
saga of theMaya maize god?one
and prominent deities in ancient Maya art.Given the nov
elty and complexity of this idiosyncratic vessel, this essay
prefaces more detailed discussion of its subject matter with
an introductory survey of the role of maize and the maize
god inMaya art, drawing on examples from the Princeton
University Art Museums
superlative holdings of related
material, several of which were also generously donated by
the Bernheim family.
Today, the tortilla reigns as the dominant form of pre
and northern Central
pared maize
throughout Mexico
vase with palace scene, detail of seated lord with
Figure 2. Cylinder
Late
tamale plate and chocolate
cup. Maya, Tikal, Peten, Guatemala.
28.0
Ceramic with polychrome
h.
cm.,
Classic, A.D. 600?800.
slip,
diam.
14.6 cm. Gift of Mary
Woodruff
J. English
in honor
O'Boyle
English
and the Class of 1931 (y 1986-94).
of
3
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More
commonly,
maize
appears
in ancient
Mesoameri
can art in personified form,whereby the plant assumes the
animacy and agency of a deity. Such representations first
art during the Early Preclassic period
appear in Olmec
(1200-900 B.C.).7 As demonstrated by murals recently dis
covered at San Bartolo, Guatemala, early Maya depictions
of the anthropomorphic maize god derived from Olmec
visual conventions, implementing a distinctly Olmec
style
of facial rendition to distinguish this character frommortals
and other deities.8 By the Late Classic period, however, Maya
artists had developed not only their own conventions for
in its personified form but a rich mytho
logical biography for the deity as well, several moments of
which
images of the
enjoy frequent illustration. Most
depicting maize
Maya maize god situate him at key stages in the botanical
cycle of sowing, maturation, and harvest. Additionally, at
regularly paced intervals Maya kings donned lavish cos
tumes associating themselves with themaize god and their
ritual actions with future agricultural fecundity. A particu
costume is rendered
larly elaborate version of maize-god
on so-called Holmul
Dancer
pots, which are affiliatedwith
and the vicinity (fig. 3). Such
scribal workshops atNaranjo
vessels present lords dressed as themaize god, dancing with
immense backracks and accompanied by dwarfs.9 Presum
ably, such vessels were produced for and used on occasions
lords
when lords performed just such ritual dances. Maya
associated themselves with the maize god not only for
agricultural ceremonies, but also to suggest that dynastic
power recurred as ifbotanically inevitable; just as agricul
ture follows a recurring cycle of life, death, and renewal,
that dynastic power flowed from interred
to their progeny, as demonstrated by maize
related tomb iconography, the generational recurrence of
theMaya
ancestors
held
royal names, and the use of the term "sprout" (ch'ok) as a
title for young princes.10
Although these themes permeate much of Maya visual
culture, they find theirmost frequent and elaborate presen
tation on finely painted ceramic vessels. This is no surprise,
since such vessels, including cylindrical drinking cups, bowls,
and tripod plates, were used in elite feasts to serve various
forms ofmaize aswell as chocolate, a comestible mythically
related tomaize.11 These same vessels were often placed in
royal tombs, where they not only symbolically contained
eternal sustenance, but also foretold the underworld travails
and eventual victory over death the interredwould experi
ence through progenic renewal. Both cylinder vessels for
liquids and plates for tamales were involved in these varied
uses and often portray themaize god.
Maize-god
plates, such as thisfine example also fromTikal
(fig. 4), most frequently present the deity in a gracefully
active pose with one heal raised slightly?a conventional
Maya posture indicating dance.12 The maize god is readily
identifiable in such scenes by his elongated head, tonsured
hairdo, and flowing feather adornments.13The Maya believed
all people were made frommaize, and their bodily aesthet
ics reiterated this basic connection. Cranial modification
(of
still-soft infantile skulls), prosthetic nose enhancements,
hairdos and headdresses, face paint and jade dental inlays all
served to make Maya nobility resemble a thriving maize
vessel with dancing maize
gods and dwarfs. Maya,
or vicinity, Peten, Guatemala.
Late Classic, A.D. 600-800.
with polychrome
slip, h. 17.0 cm., diam. (base) 14.2 cm., diam.
cm.
H. Bernheim
Leonard
Gift
of
13.5
(rim)
Jr.,Class of 1959 (yi98i-i9).
Figure
Naranjo
Ceramic
3.Cylinder
plant and particularly the single well-formed cob that typi
cally grows near the top of the stalk; the elongated human
head mimics the ear; long, thin strands of hair frame the
head as if silk surrounding the healthy cob; and jade adorn
ments and iridescent blue-green quetzal plumes symbolize
the verdant leaves of the growing plant.
4
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^^B^^BM^BMiBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBIi^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^B^^HHHIm
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^BWHw||l|w
4.
Figure
Maize
god.
Guatemala.
Plate
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H^H|^^^^^H^^^^fl[
withdancing
Peten,
Maya,Tikal,
Late
Classic,
polychrome
this plate, the long, flowing strokes of the figure s
defining lines and the placement of feathers both on the
On
head and at the joints enhance the sense of facile movement
akin to the rustling leaves of themaize plant in the field.The
innermost of the concentric framing bands on the plate
consists of four patterned zones; although on many other
Tikal Dancer plates these zones aremarked with jaguar pel
a general reference to the power and
age?presumably
decoration here more closely
prestige of the owner?the
resembles the rows of kernels on themaize ear or possibly
the faceted pattern of a turtle carapace, aMaya symbol of the
earth, fromwhich all plants emerge with the coming of the
spring rains.The outermost band presents a pair of repeating
glyphlike elements that frequently appear on Tikal Dancer
they do not follow standard conventions of
Maya hieroglyphic writing, Erik Boot has suggested they
may serve as a formalized, pseudo-glyphic reference to the
name of themaize god.14
plates. Although
or
god. Tikal
plate with head of maize
A.D.
600-800.
Late
Guatemala.
Classic,
vicinity, Peten,
cm. Promised
Ceramic with polychrome
slip, diam. 34.8
G.
of
Gillett
Griffin
(L.1991.15).
bequest
Figure
5.Tripod
Some plates made in the same Tikal style depict only the
decapitated head of themaize god, alluding to the harvested
5
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Figure 6. Plate with maize
resurrection scene.
god
Maya, Peten, Guatemala.
Late Classic, A.D. 600-800.
Ceramic
with polychrome
cm.
slip, h. 11.4 cm., diam. 37.5
Museum
Fowler
purchase,
Class of 1921,
McCormick,
Fund'(1997-465).
ear, and, by extension, the tamale made from it (fig. 5).The
head on this plate includes several diagnostic maize god
motifs, including a tonsured hairdo, elongated cranium, and
long quetzal-feather panache extending from the forehead
(as is typical, the fugitive green slip used by theMaya here
appears a dull gray-brown). The once-green curling motif
on the back of the head also appears frequently on represen
tations of themaize
portraying
a maize
god; ithas been interpreted variously as
kernel
or
a tamale
seen
in cross-section.15
framing band on the shallow wall of the plate presents
a series of three illegible pseudo-glyphs on one half,while
the other half consists of an attenuated cross, indicated by
The
the paired dark quarter-circles on each end that define the
on Tikal-style
horizontal projections of the cross. Common
maize plates, this elongated cross motif is a permutation of
the logographic hieroglyph (and visual symbol) for k'an,
"yellow, precious, ripe." On tamale plates, thismotif refers
to the contents and, in this instance, also to the head of the
maize
god
as
"ripe"
corn.
The decapitated head may seem a marked contrast to the
youthful, energetically mobile dancing figure more typical
of Tikal-style plates. Yet together, theymark two interlocking
moments
in the life cycle of maize:
and violent death
vital youth (ripe maize)
(harvested maize). Both types may also
have been used in burial contexts.
At some cities, tripod plates have been found, occasionally
small "kill holes" at their centers, inverted over the
with
heads of royal individuals in their tombs, presumably equat
ing the individual with harvested maize.16With the "planting"
of the deceased
cally; new
maize
seeds
individual, the life cycle is renewed botani
life (progeny) will spring forth just as "dead"
sprout
anew.
few plates render explicitly this process of new life
emerging from the dead head/body, including a fine example
at the Princeton University Art Museum
(fig.6).The maize
A
god, with his tonsured hairdo and long quetzal-feather head
dress, dances atop a skull at the center of the composition.
a "decapitated,"
The skull?now
largely eroded?represents
6
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flask in
HFigure 7a, b. Tobacco
the form of God N with turtle
carapace (front[a] and back [b]).
or vicinity, Peten,
Maya, Nakbe
Late Classic, a.d.
Guatemala.
650-750. Ceramic with cream
and black slip; h. 8.1 cm.,
w. 6.0 cm. Promised
bequest of
Gillett G. Griffin (L. 1987.43).
Figure 8a,b.Crouching raingod wielding lightninggod axe (oblique
[a] and detail of incisions on back of head [b]). Maya, Mexico
or Guatemala,
Late Preclassic or Early Classic, 200 B.C.-A.D.
400.
Fuchsite with traces of stucco and cinnabar, h. 13.3 cm. Museum
view
purchase
(y 1990-74).
seed. From the skull flow curling red scrolls, rep
resenting blood or fire, as well as undulating plant stems
as
capped by large,white water-lily blossoms. Water lilies,
a
as
in
fish
its
beak
well
thewhite heron with
freshly caught
swampy areas, such watery iconography alludes both to the
the maize god
field and to the underworld from which
a
new
as
in figure 6,
the
illustrated
On
emerges
plate
plant.
two figures flank the dancing maize god, one with a snail
bottom of the composition, all reference stillbodies ofwater.
For the ancient Maya, whose sophisticated agricultural tech
nology included use of artificially raised fields in low-lying,
deity known among scholars as
an
God N,
old Atlantean character associated with mountains
and thunder.17 In other instances, such as the "codex-style"
desiccated
and the red band and stacks of black rectilinear forms at the
shell torso and the other with
a crocodilian headdress. The
former is an underworld
7
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head in the
HFigure 9a, b. Decapitated
form of a turtle carapace
(front [a]
and oblique [b]views).Maya,
Guatemala,
Highland
Preclassic
(Las Charcas
B.C. Ceramic
600-400
Middle
phase),
with white
slip and traces of red pigment,
h. 9.0 cm., w. 6.0 cm. Promised
bequest
of Gillett
G. Griffin
(L.2000.87).
tobacco flask illustrated in figure 7a, b, God N wears a turtle
carapace in lieu of a snail shell.
The
character with
the crocodilian
headdress
lacks
definitive attributes of a particular deity, although Madeline
Carroll has suggested he is a manifestation of Chahk, the
rain and lightning deity who appears with some frequency
in scenes with God N and the maize god.18 Alternatively,
the headdress may identify this character as some aspect of
in the colonial
the crocodilian earth, known as Zipacna
Quiche
document
the Popol Vuh and, in the Late Classic
as Itsam Kab Ayiin.19 Collectively,
this
period, possibly
crocodilian deity and God
may serve as primordial
progenitors and agriculturalists and allude specifically to
the coming of spring rains; thunder and lightning are
thought to result from the forceful axing of the turtle
N
earth, thus catalyzing the emergence of planted
crops by cracking open the parched earth and quenching
the seeds within with rain.
carapace
it is not clear whether
the character with
the
Although
crocodilian headdress on this plate isChahk, this important
rain god is frequently credited with splitting open the earth
in order to facilitate maize growth, as exemplified by an
early Maya fuchsite sculpture (fig. 8a). Chahk, identifiable
by the swirling incisions of his eyes and his scalloped eye
brows, holds a lightning (k'awiil) axe behind his back,
cocked and ready to strike.On his scalp appears the cross
shaped k'an (ripe) logograph mentioned
previously, and
are
scroll emanations
cascading down the back of the head
indicating new plant growth (fig. 8b).20Although the head
dress-wearing character on the plate illustrated in figure 6
does not wield Chahk's
lightning axe, his and God N's
gestures, pointing at the intersection of the skull-seed and
the dancing maize god, indicate their agentive role in agri
cultural
renewal.
In other versions of this scene, the maize god emerges
from a crack in a turtle carapace, an explicit reference to the
dry soil awaiting the onset of the rainy season.21 A finely
modeled, Middle Preclassic (ca. 600?400 B.C.) Maya ceramic
head at Princeton
similarly references this theme (fig.9a, b).
human
face is at once youthful and dead, the
expressive
latter indicated by the flowing blood-scrolls from his neck,
The
marking his decapitation. The raised ridges at the top of the
head and the incised pattern on the back refer to a turtle
carapace (fig. 9b; compare to fig. 7a, b).The pairing of cara
the maize within the
pace and severed head?situating
the
suggests the maize
turtle-earth?strongly
god was
intended subject and effectively alludes to themoment prior
to his sprouting.22Notably, this carapace is not decorated in
the usual faceted design of a turtle shell, as can be seen on
the small tobacco-flask illustrated in figure 7b, but with an
incised checkerboard pattern. The same patterning envelops
most of the surface of a Chochola-style Maya drinking cup
(fig. 10a, b) probably intended for the consumption of 'ul,
which also presents the rebirth of the maize god (note his
tonsured hair and the curl on his head) from a dry, cracked
seed, here rendered as the glyph ajaw ("lord"). Karl Taube
8
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or vicinity, Yucatan
or
vessel depicting birth of maize
Mexico.
Figure ioa, b. Carved
god (front [a] and back [b] views). Maya, Chochola
Campeche,
Late Classic, A.D. 600-900.
Ceramic with traces of red pigment, h. 12.3 cm., diam. 13.0 cm. Promised
bequest of Gillett G. Griffin (L. 1974.16).
noted
that this checkered pattern indicates cultivated earth
in art at Teotihuacan
and other central Mexican
sites, and
has suggested that itmay serve a comparable iconographic
function in this case.23Alternatively, the checkerboard design
may represent a basket weave; baskets were used to hold all
kinds of materials, including, as rendered on several Maya
vessels, the decapitated head of the maize god.24 The same
basketry techniques were implemented throughout Meso
america to create large packs for transporting loads of small
organic substances, such as maize kernels and chocolate
potential association of the turtle s shellwith such
is
discussed
below.
packs
the plates and related objects mentioned
While
above
beans.The
present themost frequently depicted episodes of themaize
god saga (vital youth, harvest, renewal), many other moments
are also attested inMaya art.According to a narrative sequence
and Genevieve Le Fort, the
proposed by Michel Quenon
cycle includes at least five episodes: Following
maize-god
(i) harvest (death), themaize god is (2) transported into the
underworld via canoe, where he is (3) reborn from themouth
of a fish with saurian features. Quenon
and La Fort argue
god is next (4) adorned in his regalia, in anticipa
tion of his (5) resurrection into the terrestrial realm though
themaize
the
cracked
turtle
carapace/earth.25
these additional episodes, only the "dressing" scene is
represented in the Princeton University Art Museums
Of
(fig.n).This brightly polychromed cylinder ves
located between
sel, produced at an unknown workshop
collections
the Salinas
and Candelaria
rivers in eastern Mexico
or
north-western Guatemala, depicts themaize god flanked by
two naked women, each holding an obsidian mirror shown
in profile view.26 Only the upper half of the maize god is
shown; the broad black band below marks a dark, watery
context, at the center of which?and
directly beneath the
another
the
skull,
upper portion here
god?appears
resembling a shell in cross section or the curled maize motif
noted on the head of the decapitated maize god illustrated
maize
in figure 5.Although shown fully grown, the partial rendi
tion of the maize god may indicate a particularly young
plant; perhaps the sexual overtones of the naked women
(rarely seen inMaya art, and consistently in sexually charged
contexts) refer to the period of pollination, when pollen
from the tassel at the top of maize plants may be seen to
"adorn" the silk of the nascent ears. If that is the case, the
fourth character on the vessel, identifiable by his black spots
as theHero Twin Hun Ajaw (also known asHunahpu, which
he is called in the PopolVuh), may refer to cross-pollination,
as he leaves the scene with a bundle (of pollen?) and a staff
or torch. Alternatively,
the Maya also likened the sowing
the
soil
with a planting stick and insem
process (penetrating
the
earth
with
seed) to coitus; perhaps the overt
inating
sexuality of the scene refers to this process. In accord with
9
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n. Cylinder
scene of maize
or
vessel depicting
Salinas and Candelaria
rivers,Mexico
Figure
god dressing (rollout photograph). Maya, between
Late Classic, A.D. 600-800.
Guatemala.
Ceramic with polychrome
slip, h.15.7 cm., diam. 17.0 cm. Promised
bequest of Gillett G. Griffin (L. 1992.49).
this interpretation, Hun Ajaw may be seen to be leaving the
recently planted field with seed bag and planting stick in
hand.27
The
maize
in this scene of Hun Ajaw?a
us thatMaya mythology
god?reminds
presence
son of the
need
not
strict chronology; such temporal liberties and the
tendency to represent stories in pars pro toto fashion, with
one or a few moments standing for an entire saga,make it
follow
this "dressing" scene was
to
understood
have occurred after themaize god's emergence
from the earth, as postulated here, or before, as proposed by
difficult to determine whether
and La Fort.
Quenon
Similar issues of sequence
and narrative order confound
at the
study of the complex drinking vessel mentioned
outset of this essay, towhich we will now return our atten
tion (see figs, i, 12, 13).Among the various figures on this
appear three individuals sporting the maize god's
diagnostic tonsured hairdo: a diminutive figure straddling a
vessel
plate on a backpack (fig. 1, right); a youth resting calmly in
a cloth wrapping
(Spanish: reboso) on the back of a woman
(fig. 13, left); and a full-grown man with the diagnostic
maize curl on his head who stands, arms crossed, looking
over his shoulder (fig. 12, left).The sequence from left to
right of consecutively larger,more "mature" manifestations
of the maize god, each of whom faces the viewers right,
the standard reading order of Maya hieroglyphs,
including that of the dedication text on the vessel's rim.28
follows
This
sequence
vessel's subject
led Catherine
to argue that the
of the maize god, pre
Burdick
is the maturation
in a linear, chronological
fashion.29 Some Maya
a
involve
vessels, however,
right-to-left unfolding of narra
tive time; the Princeton Vase is an excellent case in point.30
sented
is consistently driven by a
Moreover, Maya
composition
the most
hierarchical sequencing of characters, in which
powerful or important individual appears at the viewers
right and is often seated, facing the rest of the scene. The
fact that all three maize-god manifestations on this vessel
look at the seated figure on the far right (see cover), even
though in two instances the bodies are directed the other
way, indicates such a hierarchy likely directed the composi
tion of this vessel. Although some aspects of the narrative
scene on this vessel are not yet fully understood,
seems to unfold in a right-to-left sequence. As
the story
such, the
following discussion will begin with the most prominent
character at the viewers right.
The first figural grouping consists of three characters
(fig. 12): an aged, paunchy deity who sits on a cushioned,
jaguar-pelt throne; a diminutive character who holds two
or parrot and a long-tailed
upraised macaw
quetzal; and themaize god, whose head turns to look over
his shoulder at the seated deity. Each of the two columns
birds?an
of text placed between the characters describes speech,
beginning with a version of the verb "to say." The first,on
the viewers left,quotes the speech as stating "It is good."31
The
second text column
specifies the identity of the seated
an interlocutor in the conversa
and
confirms
he
is
deity
"He
said
tion, reading
it," followed by two logographic
head signs that reference two well-known Maya deities,
God N
and the Principal Bird Deity.32 The pairing of these
as the presence of the Principal Bird Deity's
tasseled ak'ab ("dark") diadem on the clearly aged indi
titles, as well
comprises an example of what Simon Martin
recently has termed "theosynthesis" and serves to clarify
vidual,
thatwhat we
see here is a particular variant of the Princi
pal Bird Deity, specifically in his anthropomorphic, aged
aspect.33 This old man, known as God D by scholars, is a
and
preeminent Maya
deity, renowned for his wisdom
as a sorcerer. His
in the
power
primary position
10
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^HHHHHHflHHHH
or
Zotz
Late
polychrome
honor
composition and his active gesture seem to indicate his
agency in the following events, yet the laconic inscriptions
give no clue as to his precise role.
The identity of the diminutive character is also elusive,
again due to the brevity of the caption glyphs.The red-and
he sports isworn exclusively by the Hero
Twins, however, and thuswe may see here a youthful Hun
Ajaw, who appears fully grown at the far left of the vessel
white headband
a
composition.34 It is extremely rare to seeHun Ajaw as child,
and the rationale for such a presentation is unknown.
The body language of all three characters, so evocatively
indicated by the fluid form lines, affirms their involvement
in discussion, yet the particular gestures and bodily attitudes
are difficult to interpret. Is God D's gesture toward the
upraised parrot/macaw meant to indicate he has selected it
over the quetzal? If so,what does this imply? God D and the
god seem to be looking intently at each other; does
this indicate God D's interaction has implications for the
maize
god, or that they share some agency in the ensuing
actions?What exactly is the role of the adolescent Hun Ajaw?
Although these questions remain unresolved, the orienta
maize
god's body, which faces away from God D,
seems to suggest that action results from the encounter, lead
ing themaize god to turn away and directing the viewer to
tion of themaize
turn the vessel and continue the story along with him.
As does the first, the second scene on the vessel involves
II
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Zotzor
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H
Late
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H polychrome
honor
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H
no clear translation is currently known. The
three characters (fig. 12): a male character with a zoomor
phic (deer?) headdress seated on amonstrous head (symbolic
of stone or,more generally, the earth), who makes a gesture
which
of themaize
phorically to reference thewomb; in this sense, the passage
is pregnant with the nascent
may indicate that thewoman
of lament with his right hand; an amply proportioned adult
female,who sitson the ground line; and, resting comfortably
in a cloth wrap, an infantilemale with the tonsured hairdo
god (the attention of the full-grown maize god
is directed away from this figural group, rendering him
peripheral to this scene). The columns of hieroglyphs repre
sent the speech of the adults; this is confirmed by the swirling
lines, each connecting a column to the mouth of an adult.
text lacks a standard initial quotative verb
The woman's
(perhaps because the speech-line suffices in this instance),
opening instead with the expression ba'iiy (ba-'i-y(a)), for
ing two glyph blocks?a-pibal
"your
oven."35
This
curious
(a-pi-/-ba-l(i))?seem
passage
may
have
two
follow
to read
simulta
neous meanings. First, given the central role of the maize
god on this vessel, the passage may refer to the baking of
tamales in a pit oven. Additionally, "oven" is also used meta
use of the second person possessive in the
phrase presumably indicates that theman she faces is respon
sible for the pregnancy. Although it is difficult to decipher
maize
god. The
fully, theman's speech seems to affirm this double meaning,
as it can be interpreted to refer to "the maize within the seed"
and thus possibly his progeny within
12
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thewoman's womb.36
the Mexica
notions of birth and death are
ethnographically documented turtle that served as themaize
god's foster parent is consistently female.
This unique scene also may explain how the turtle got his
seeing both processes expressed in union; themaize god is
both destroyed (cooked in an oven; mourned by themale),
shell; the burden of carrying the maize god overwhelmed
and compressed the turtle,forcing him towalk on all fours,
near (and akin to) the earth. Perhaps specifically to accentu
ate the weight of this load, a large stone rests atop the
Throughout Mesoamerica,
(Aztec), for example,
closely related; among
earth goddesses frequently fuse deathly symbolism and
birthing postures.37 In this challenging scene, we may be
and reborn (the infantmaize god; the allusion to thewomb,
possibly corroborated by the notable girth of the woman).
Moreover, numerous ethnographic sources from throughout
god was conceived by a
couple out of wedlock; inmany of these stories, the new
born maize god is killed (frequently by drowning) to hide
Mesoamerica
note that themaize
the parents' transgression.38 Perhaps the clear expression of
lament by the man refers to such a sacrifice of his unborn
progeny. In several of these stories, the infantmaize god is
rescued by a turtle "foster mother," an event that is likely
represented by the third and final scene on the vessel.
This scene includes the Hero Twin Hun Ajaw facing a
scaly character carrying an immense pack loaded with a
conical walking hat, an attached gourd and necked jar, and a
plate, upon which sits a tiny,tonsured maize god (fig. i).The
inscriptions here provide only basic labels; the single glyph
near the head of theman
simply identifies him asHun Ajaw
(as do the spots on his body and his red-and-white head
band),39 while the glyphs between him and the zoomorphic
porter note that "his/her burden was
immense"
(pih yikats
[PIH/yi-ka-/-ts(i)-(tsi)]).
The animal in this scene has been
identified previously
as a toad.40The notably sharp point at the tip of the crea
ture's upper lip, however, suggests it is a turtle, as does the
(mountain/earth) face on its back, since the turtle is
symbolically likened to the earth's surface. Extending the
witz
turtle designation, we may understand
carries?its
"immense
burden"?to
the pack the turtle
refer
to
a
carapace.
Such an interpretation lends rationale to the tinymaize god
riding in a plate on the pack; he may serve as an iconic label
for the contents of the pack, and by extension for themaize
there are no known
the (turtle) earth. Although
texts or images, this presentation is
cognate ancient Maya
similar to several documented Mesoamerican
maize-god
within
child is
the discarded bastard maize-god
myths, wherein
rescued on the back of a turtle.41Problematic, however, is
the turtle's loincloth, which
suggests he ismale, whereas
the
zoomorph's head. Hun Ajaw's hand rests on the stone;
perhaps ithas been placed here by him. The stone thusmay
indicate some agency in the transformation to Hun Ajaw,
and also suggests that we are witnessing the moment of
earth's formation; as the turtle is compressed by his impor
tant burden, he becomes
the compacted turtle-earth.42
To summarize, this vessel presents a unique version of the
(re)birth ofmaize, involving the interdiction or direction of
the preeminent old Maya deity God D. He seems to advise
the actions of both themaize
god and the adolescent Hun
to
be consummated in the belly (oven)
Ajaw; the former is
of a woman, presumably discarded by the parents, and sub
sequently rescued by a turtle,with the latter's load ultimately
becoming a turtle shell and thus the earth.This interpreta
explain the presence of woven patterning on the
decapitated head with turtle carapace (see fig. 9a, b) and the
Chochola
vessel (see fig. 10a, b), as theymay reference the
tion may
a hard shell.
turtle's pack before itbecame
As with any great work of art, this vessel retainsmany a
mystery.Who, for example, are themale and female charac
ters in the central scene? If thewoman
be pregnant with themaize
twin brother, perhaps)?What
god, who
is indeed meant
to
sits on her back
(his
exactly is implied by the paired
parrot/macaw and quetzal birds held aloft by the adolescent
Hun Ajaw? Thinking beyond the iconography, we may also
ponder forwhom the vessel was made and forwhat occa
sion;what religious activities and/or political intriguesmay
have occurred while the vessel was being used to serve
chocolate? Alternatively, the vessel's thematic focus on life,
death, and renewal may indicate itwas made specifically for
ritual interment with a recently deceased noble. If thiswere
the case, who commissioned the painting? These and other
mysteries of the maize god await the discovery of new,
related iconography and further development inMaya epig
raphy.This fine vessel certainly has much
such research in the years ahead.
to contribute to
13
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NOTES
Several people have proven instrumental in the development of this essay.
Victoria Bricker, Donald Hales, David Hixson, Stephen Houston, Lily Just,Justin
Kerr, and KarlTaube all provided pertinent insights on the subject and construc
tive comments on early drafts. I thank Simon Martin for sharing his most
I also thank Stephanie
important unpublished document on "The Old Man."
Bernheim for her interest in this research, her enduring passion for ancient
American art, and her commitment to the Princeton University Art Museum.
Any errors of fact or interpretation remain the responsibility of the author.
(Gainesville: University Press of Florida,
of Cacao, ed. Cameron McNeil
2006), 154-83.
12. Nikolai Grube,"Classic Maya Dance: Evidence fromHieroglyphs and Iconog
raphy,"AncientMesoamerica 3 (1992): 201-18; Looper, To Be Like Gods, 114-31.
has done themost thorough assessment of maize god iconogra
13. KarlTaube
phy inMaya art,building on previous work extending back to the beginning
of the twentieth century. See, for example, Taube, "The Classic Maya Maize
God: A Reappraisal," in Fifth Palenque Round Table, 1983, ed.Virginia M. Fields
Institute, 1985), i7i-8i;Taube,
(San Francisco: Pre-Columbian Art Research
and Karl A.Taube, The Major Gods ofAncientYucatan, Studies
"MaizeTamale";
in Pre-Columbian
1. This vessel is referenced as K7727
in Justin Kerr's photographic Maya Vase
Database at vvovw.mayavase.com (hereafterMaya Vase Database), andMS2085
in the neutron activation analysis database of Dorie Reents-Budet
and
Ronald
Bishop.
2. Stephen D. Houston,
Zachary Nelson, Hector L. Escobedo, Juan Carlos
Lucia Arroyave, Fabiola Quiroa, andRafael Cambranes,"Levan
Melendez,Ana
tamiento Preliminar yActividades de Registro en El Zotz,Biotopo
SanMiguel
la Palotada, Peten," informe submitted to theDepartment of Prehispanic and
Colonial Monuments, General Direction of Cultural and Natural Patrimony,
Guatemala (2006), available (in Spanish) atvvovw.mesoweb.com/zotz/resources.
html (accessed November 24, 2009). For an English translation, see Stephen D.
Houston, The Epigraphy of El Zotz
(2008), 3-4, available online at www.
(accessed November 24,2009).
mesoweb.com/zotz/articles/ZotzEpigraphy.pdf
Dorie Reents-Budet notes chemical similarities among the El Zotz-style ves
sels and ceramics ofUaxactun andTikal, Guatemala (e-mail communication to
author, July 30, 2008).
3. For the most extensive previous discussion of the vessel, see Catherine
Burdick, "Notes on K7727," published online atwww.mayavase.com/7727/
com7727.html (n.d.; accessed November 24, 2009).
Maize Tamale in Classic Maya Diet, Epigraphy, and Art,"
4. Karl A.Taube,"The
American Antiquity 54, no. 1 (1989): 32-34.
See Marc Zender to Justin
5. L. 1974.14 a-b (K5515 inMaya Vase Database).
5, 2001, reproduced in Marc Zender, "Commentary: Vase
Kerr, October
Number K5515," available online atwww.mayavase.com/com5515.html
(n.d.;
accessed November 24, 2009). See also Nikolai Grube, "The Primary Stan
dard Sequence on Chochola
Style Ceramics," in The Maya Vase Book, Vol. 2,
A Corpus ofRollout Photographs of
Maya Vases, ed. JustinKerr (New York: Kerr
Associates, 1990), 320-30.
6. On the affiliation of thisvessel with Tikal, see Dorie Reents-Budet, Oswaldo
Gomez, Ronald L. Bishop,Juan Pedro LaPorte,Vilma Fialko, and M.James
Perdido y Plaza de los Siete Templos:
Blackman, "La Ceramica de Mundo
Actividades Rituales por la Elite de Tikal," paper presented at the 22nd
en Guatemala, July 21-26, 2008
Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueologicas
(unpublished manuscript in author's possession).
7. Karl A. Taube, "The Olmec Maize God: The Face of Corn in Formative
RES: Anthropology andAesthetics no. 29/30 (Spring-Autumn
Mesoamerica,"
1996): 39-81.
8.William A. Saturno, Karl A. Taube, and David Stuart, The Murals ofSan Bartolo,
El Peten, Guatemala: Part i,The North Wall, Ancient America 7 (Barnardsville,
N.C.: Center forAncient American Studies, 2005).
9. Dwarfs and hunchbacks were seen to have a special relationship to themaize
god; theywere likened to the stunted and ill-formed cobs that typically form
lower on the stalk.As such, they are seen to be of the same stock as the per
fectly formed cob, i.e., the maize god. See Mary Ellen Miller and Simon
AncientMaya (San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums of
Martin, CourtlyArt of the
San Francisco; New York: Thames & Hudson, 2004), 58. For an in-depth
discussion of the iconography of Holmul Dancer plates, see Matthew G.
Looper, To Be Like Gods: Dance inAncientMaya Civilization (Austin:Univer
sityof Texas Press, 2009), 117-22.
10. James L. Fitzsimmons, Death and theClassic Maya
Kings (Austin:University of
Texas Press, 2009), 22.
11. On
the relationship between chocolate and maize inMaya mythology, see
Miller andMartin, Courtly Art of the
AncientMaya, 62-63; and Simon Martin,
"Cacao
inAncient Maya Religion: First Fruit from theMaize Tree and Other
Tales from theUnderworld,"
in Chocolate inMesoamerica: A Cultural History
Art and Archaeology
32 (Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton
1992), 41-50. For a review of previ
Library and Collection,
ous literature, seeTaube, "Classic Maya Maize God," 171.
Oaks Research
14. Erik Boot, "An Annotated Overview of'Tikal Dancer Plates'" (2003), 18-19,
published online at www.mesoweb.com/features/boot/TikalDancerPlates.
pdf (accessed November 24, 2009).
15. As a kernel, seeTaube, "Classic Maya Maize God"; as a tamale, see Bruce Love,
"Yucatec Sacred Breads through Time," inWilliam
F.Hanks and Don Rice,
eds., Word and Image inMaya Culture: Explorations in Language, Writing, and
Representation (Salt Lake City: University ofUtah Press, 1989), 336?5o;Taube,
"Maize Tamale"; Taube, "Major Gods ofAncient Yucatan," 41.
16. Fitzsimmons, Death and theClassic Maya Kings, 92 and Appendix 2.This prac
tice is best evidenced atAltar de Sacrificios, where at least forty-five burials
contain bowls or plates inverted over the heads of interred individuals;
A. Ledyard Smith, Excavations at Altar de Sacrificios:Architecture, Settlement,
Burials and Caches, Papers of the Peabody Museum
ofArt and Ethnology 62,
no. 2 (Cambridge, Mass.: Peabody Museum Press, 1972). For burials atTikal
and Seibal, seeWilliam R. Coe, Excavations in theGreat Plaza, North Terrace and
North Acropolis ofTikal, Tikal Report
14 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsyl
vania Press, 1990) ;T. Patrick Culbert, The Ceramics ofTikal: Vesselsfrom Burials,
Caches, and ProblematicalDeposits,Tikal Report 25,pt.A (Philadelphia: Univer
sity of Pennsylvania Press, 1993); and Gair Tourtellot III, "Burials: A Cultural
Analysis," in Gordon R. Willey, ed., Excavations at Seibal, Department ofPeten,
Guatemala, Memoirs of the Peabody Museum
17,nos. 1-4 (Cambridge, Mass.:
Museum
Press,
1990).
Peabody
17. Taube, "Major Gods of Ancient Yucatan," 92-99.
18.Madeline
Carroll, "Cycles, Ceremony, and Sacrifice: An Interpretation of
Plate Depicting Resurrection Scene, aMaya Vessel of the Classic Period," junior
of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University
thesis, Department
(n.d.
[2008]).
19. Karl A. Taube, personal communication, August
Ayiin, see David Stuart to Linda Schele, November
28, 2009; on Itsam Kab
14,1994, available online
at
http://decipherment.f1les.wordpress.com/2007/09/itzam-letter-1994.pdf;
and Simon Martin, "The Old Man
of the Maya Universe: A Unitary
Dimension within Ancient Maya Religion,"
13-16 (unpublished manu
script, 2007 version).
20. Curiously, this complex motif also seems to incorporate a macaw's head, the
eye indicated by a dotted circle marking thewhite area lacking feathers.This
bird appears to have a skeletal lower mandible, possibly identifying the char
acter as an Early Classic variant of the bird deityVucub Caquix, known from
the PopolVuh. If this reading is correct, the defeat of this important deity may
here be linked to the creation ofmaize.
21. The best-known example of this scene is a codex-style
plate in the collection
of theMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston (1993.565^1892
inMaya Vase Database).
22. Another fusion ofmaize-god head and turtle carapace is attested on an Olmec
carved jade from Las Encrucijadas, Tabasco, Mexico; Karl A. Taube, e-mail
to author,March 10, 2009. See also Karl A.Taube, Olmec Art
atDumbarton Oaks, Pre-Columbian Art at Dumbarton Oaks 2
(Washington,
DC:
Dumbarton Oaks Research
2004), 91 and
Library and Collection,
fig. 40a.
23. Karl A.Taube, e-mail communication to author,March 10,2009; Karl A.Taube,
communication
The Writing System ofAncient Teotihuacan,Ancient America
Center forAncient American Studies, 2000).
N.C.:
1 (Barnardsville,
24. See, for example, K1183 and K8468, Maya Vase Database.
and Genevieve Le Fort,"Rebirth and Resurrection
inMaize
25. Michel Quenon
God Iconography," inBarbara Kerr, ed., The Maya Vase Book, vol. 5,A Corpus
14
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Maya Vases (New York: Kerr Associates, 1997), 884-902.
ofRollout Photographs of
26. Information on the place ofmanufacture provided by Dorie Reents-Budet,
personal communication, April 17,2008.
the involvement of a son in the birth of his fathermay seem paradoxi
27.While
cal, patterns of bigenerational name inheritance and the use of the same term
for grandparent and grandchild inMaya languages corroborate the notion
that progenic renewal was understood to involve the intermediary generation
in a crucially agentive role. Perhaps the ancient Maya thought human agricul
turalists served this agentive role in the agricultural cycle ofmaize.
28. The dedicatory inscription is a standard form, beginning just above the head
of Hun Ajaw (far lefton cover rollout). It reads: "Here it is, it is raised up(?)
the surface-painted, thin-walled, drinking cup for 'tree-fresh' chocolate/'d/dy
tabij yich uts'ibilnajah(?) ujaay yuk'ib ta tsih te'el kakaw (a-LAY-y(a) TAB(?)-ji
[u]-jaay yu-k'i-b(i) ta-TSIH te-TE'-l(e)
y(a) yi-ch(i) u-ts'i-b(i)-IL(?)-NAJ-JA
KAKAW(?)).
29. Burdick, "Notes on K7727."
30. The Princeton Vase (yi975-i7) presents, at the left of the composition, the
old underworld God L seated on his throne in themidst of five distractingly
beautiful young women. One of the women taps another on the heel and
turns her head, telling both her companion and the viewer to turn the vessel
in a counter-clockwise
direction to reveal a scene inwhich
theHero Twins
decapitate another underworld denizen. The folly of God L (in not realizing
the severity of the event on the other side of the vessel) is realized only when
the vessel is read in this direction.
31. This passage reads, "He said,'it is good with the lord(?)/grandfather(?), it is
good,'" aljiiy uts itaw ajaw(?)/mam(?) uts (a-AL-[ji]-y(a) / u-ts(i) / i-ta-w(a) /
[AJAWP/MAM?] / u-ts(i)). On the possible reading of the bird head as /mam/,
a termmeaning both "grandfather" and "grandson," see Simon Martin,"Car
acol Altar 21 Revisited: More
Data
on Double
Bird and Tikal's Wars
of the
Century," The PARIJournal 6, no. 1 (2005): 8;Alexandre Tokovin
ine and Vilma Fialko, "Stela 45 of Naranjo and the Early Classic Lords of
Mid-Sixth
Sa'aal, The PARI Journal 7, no. 4 (2007): 11.
On this reading,
32. y-aljiiy [GOD N] itsam (ya-la-ji-[y(a)]/[GOD
N]/ITSAM).
see Martin, "Old Man of theMaya Universe," 10; and Erik Boot, "At the
of Itzam Nah Yax Kokaj Mut: Preliminary Iconographic and Epi
graphic Analysis of a Late Classic Vessel" (October 30, 2008), 17, published
online at www.mayavase.com/God-D-Court-Vessel.pdf
(accessed Novem
ber 29, 2009).
Court
33. Karen
Bassie, "Maya Creator Gods," www.mesoweb.com/features/bassie/
29, 2009);
(2002), 29 (accessed November
CreatorGods/CreatorGods.pdf
Martin, "Old Man of theMaya Universe," ioff.
34. JustinKerr, personal communication, June 23, 2009; Karl A. Taube, personal
communication, August 28, 2009.
35. I thankVictoria Bricker (e-mail communication
for her advice on this decipherment.
to author,January 24,2009),
36. aljiiy tinal(?) walaw [seed?] hiin (a-AL-[ji]-y(a) / ti-NAL?[Maize?]-1(a)/wa-la
wa/hi-[na]). On the reading of the ajaw head-glyph as "seed," see Taube,
"Classic Maya Maize God," 178-80; and Simon Martin, "Cacao inAncient
158-59.The final expression in this phrase, hiin, recently has
Maya Religion,"
been proposed to serve as an emphatic first-person reference, possibly stress
ing that the childwithin thewomb ishis. See Kerry Hull, Michael D. Carrasco,
and Robert Wald, "The First-Person Singular Independent Pronoun
in
Classic Ch'olan," mexicon 31, no. 2 (April 2009): 36-43, 40 n. 5. In the other
rare appearances of this independent pronoun, however, it is foregrounded
(clefted) and thus appears at the beginning of a passage, not the end.
37. See, for example, Cecelia F Klein, "Post-Classic Mexican Death Imagery as
a Sign of Cyclic Completion," in Elizabeth P. Benson, ed., Death and the
After
Dumbarton Oaks Research
life inPre-Columbian America (Washington, DC:
Library and Collections, 1975), 70-71.
38. For numerous examples, see H. E. M. Braakhuis, "The Bitter Flour: Birth
Scenes of theTonsured Maize God," inRudolf van Zantwijk, Rob de Ridder
and H. E. M. Braakhuis, eds., Mesoamerican Dualism/Dualismo Mesoamericano
(Utrecht:R.U.U-I.S.O.R.,
1990), 125-47.
It has been noted that themain sign of this col
39. hun ajaw (HUN-AJ-w(a)).
location normally carries the phonetic value /pu/, leading to the alternative
(Burdick, "Notes on
possible decipherment hunapuw (HUN[ya]-PU-w(a))
K7727"). However, this spelling ofHun Ajaw's name, strikingly similar to the
is otherwise unattested in the Classic
colonial Quiche
version, Hunahpu,
(e-mail communication to author,August 1, 2008)
period. Stephen Houston
suggested the /AJ/ reading for the element.
40. Burdick, "Notes on K7727." David Stuart ("Kinship Terms inMaya
and Anabel Ford, eds., The Language
tions," inMartha J.Macri
Hieroglyphs [San Francisco, 1997], 9) more
as a "reptilian creature."
Inscrip
ofMaya
tentatively identified the character
41. See Braakhuis, "Bitter Flour."
42. Karl A.Taube, personal communication, August 28, 2009.
15
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