Uk’ib (drinking vessel),

600–800

Vessels produced in the Chixoy River drainage from the mid-7th to the mid-8th century A.D. diverged significantly from the material culture of this highland region. The Chixoy River was part of a major trade artery connecting the lowland Maya area to highland resources including obsidian and jade. It seems the elites in this area, at sites near modern-day Chamá and Nebaj (which lend their names to sub-styles), emulated the sophisticated, polychrome feastwares of their lowland neighbors. Still, the distinctively orange ground, use of flowing, diluted coloration, and the relatively thick outlines distinguish both Nebaj and Chamá vessels from lowland analogues (Chamá vessels consistently include black-and-white chevron bands on rims and bases, whereas Nebaj-style lack this feature). As is typical of both sub-styles, the glyphs on this vessel are linguistically meaningless - they are instead iconic representations of writing. Unlike lowland feastwares, Chixoy vessels were used only locally, and thus signalled contact with lowland Maya though the basic object type and the presented familiarity with (but not literacy in) hieroglyphic writing. This important vessel provides a rare glimpse at a key mythological event - the defeat of a major underworld god by one of the Hero Twins. This old god, known among scholars as 'God N,' is commonly depicted emerging from a conch shell, as we see him here. In this case, the attenuation of his body - particularly his arm - both mimics the elasticity of a snail and reveals his resistance to being extracted from his protective home. Moreover, the attenuation mandates the viewer turn the vessel to see the whole figure; the viewer's eye is thus led to the youthful Hero and, eventually, to the knife he holds outstretched in the opposite direction. The composition thus conceals the Hero's intentions not only from God N but from the viewer. In this way the artist has ingeniously inflected the work with narrative temporality, reserving the 'climax' of the story (the demise of God N) for full circumambulation of the composition.