On view
Art of the Ancient Americas
Seated male figure with a frame for a mirror,
600–800
Maya
Late Classic Period
y1990-71
Courtly scenes in Maya art often depict lords gazing into mirrors held by diminutive figures, as on the black flask displayed here. These likely represent court sculpture. The exact significance of the scenes is unknown, but other Mesoamerican peoples thought mirrors could be used to conjure ancestors or even foretell future events.
More About This Object
Information
Title
Seated male figure with a frame for a mirror
Dates
600–800
Medium
Wood with traces of stucco and paint
Dimensions
33.8 × 18.2 × 14 cm (13 5/16 × 7 3/16 × 5 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund
Object Number
y1990-71
Place Made
North America, Honduras, Maya area, Reportedly from a cave near the Sesesmil River
Reference Numbers
K4484a-c
Culture
Period
Techniques
1890, said to have been found in a cave near the Sesesmil River, Copán, Honduras [1]. October 12, 1990, sold by The Lands Beyond Gallery, New York, to the Princeton University Art Museum [2].
Notes:
[1] According to a Lands Beyond invoice in the curatorial file.
[2] Ibid.
- "Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1990," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 50, no. 1 (1991): p. 16-69., p. 41
- Dorie Reents-Budet, Painting the Maya Universe: Royal Ceramics of the Classic Period (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1994)., fig. 2.4, cat. no. 89, p. 39 (illus.); pp. 356–357 (illus.); fig. 2.26, pp. 57 (illus.)
- Mary E. Miller and Simon Martin, Courtly Art of the Ancient Maya (San Francisco: Fine Arts Museum of San Fransisco, 2004)., pl. 13, p. 42 (illus., image reversed)
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 65 (illus.)
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 65
