On view
Art of the Ancient Americas
Moon goddess and rabbit,
600–800
Maya
Late Classic Period
2016-1123
Although they may seem an odd couple to Western viewers, the pairing of a young woman and a rabbit, as seen in the painted scene on this chocolate-drinking cup and modeled in clay as a double figurine, made perfect sense to the ancient Maya. Where Westerners see the face of a man in the moon, the people of Mesoamerica saw a rabbit. The young woman is the Maya moon goddess, who was associated with women’s procreative powers, probably due to the parallel time frames of lunar and menstrual cycles. The ceramic figurine’s front half was produced in a mold, with modeled rabbit ears added after firing. The current rabbit ears, however, are modern restorations. Note that the moon goddess’s dress on the drinking cup is similar to the one worn by the ceramic figure to the left. Might she, too, be the moon goddess?
Information
Title
Moon goddess and rabbit
Dates
600–800
Medium
Ceramic with polychrome slip-paint
Dimensions
12.4 × 7.7 × 5.4 cm (4 7/8 × 3 × 2 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Gillett G. Griffin
Object Number
2016-1123
Place Excavated
North America, Mexico, Campeche, Maya area, Jaina Island or vicinity
Culture
Period
Type
Subject
October 30, 1965, Judith Small Galleries, Inc. (S111) sold to Gillett G. Griffin (1928-2016), Princeton, NJ [1]; 2016, bequest of Gillett G. Griffin to the Princeton University Art Museum.
Notes:
[1] According to an invoice in the curatorial file.
- Mary Ellen Miller, Jaina Figurines: A Study of Maya Iconography (Princeton: The Princeton University Art Museum, 1975)., fig. 7, p. 27 (illus.)
- Howard La Fay, “The Maya, Children of Time,” National Geographic 148, no. 6 (Dec 1975): 729-766., p. 749 (illus.)
- Linda Schele, Hidden Faces of the Maya (Poway: ALTI Publishing, 1997)., pl. 23, p. 116 (illus.)
-
Andrea Stone and Mark Zender, Reading Maya Art: A Hieroglyphic Guide to Ancient Maya Painting and Sculpture (London: Thames and Hudson, 2011).
, fig. 2, p. 198 (illus.), 243 - Donald McVicker, "Figurines Are Us? The Social Organization of Jaina Island, Campeche, Mexico," in Ancient Mesoamerica 23, no. 2 (Fall, 2012): p. 211-234., p. 220 (illus.)
- Vernon James Knight, Iconographic Method in New World Archaeology (Cambridge; New York: Cambrige University Press, 2013).
