On view
Art of the Ancient Americas
Jawante' depicting rebirth of Jun Ixiim,
600–800
Maya
Late Classic Period
1997-465
At the center of this plate, the Maize God dances as he reemerges from the watery underworld. He stands atop a skull from which fire and water lilies spring forth, marking his appearance as a potent regenerative event, one analogous to the apotheosis of Maya kings. Pawatun, an aged deity holding his characteristic shell, sits to the right of the Maize God and points downward, at the place from which the Maize God emerges. At the left, a heron, fish in beak, perches before an individual wearing a crocodilian headdress. Such maize god renewal scenes are common on plates painted at Tikal and perhaps refer to the corn-based tamales served on such dishes.
More About This Object
Information
Title
Jawante' depicting rebirth of Jun Ixiim
Dates
600–800
Medium
Ceramic with polychrome slip
Dimensions
h. 11.4 cm., diam. 37.5 cm. (4 1/2 x 14 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, Fowler McCormick, Class of 1921, Fund
Object Number
1997-465
Place Made
North America, Guatemala, Petén, Maya area, Tikal or vicinity
Reference Numbers
K3640
MS2101
LC-p2-210 (Maya Photographic Archive, Dumbarton Oaks)
MS2101
LC-p2-210 (Maya Photographic Archive, Dumbarton Oaks)
Culture
Period
Type
Materials
Subject
[Stendahl Gallery, Los Angeles, CA]; on loan to Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1975-1977 from Stendahl; George Heyer, by 1981; purchased by the Princeton University Art Museum, 1997.
Plate with maize god resurrection scene
- Nicholas Hellmuth et al., Tzakol and Tepeu Maya Pottery Paintings (Culver City: Foundation for Latin American Anthropological Research, 1976)., fig. 1 (illus.)
- Francis Robiscek, The Maya Book of the Dead: The Ceramic Codex (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Art Museum, 1981)., fig. 22b, p. 121 (illus.)
- Gerald Berjonneau, Emile Deletaille, and Jean-Louis Sonnery, Rediscovered Masterpieces of Mesoamerica: Mexico-Guatemala-Honduras (Boulogne: Editions Arts, 1985)., cat. no. 380 (illus.)
- Jill Guthrie, ed., In celebration: works of art from the Collections of Princeton Alumni and Friends of The Art Museum, Princeton University, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 1997)., p. 151, cat. no. 147 (illus.)
- "Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1997," in "A Window into Collecting American Folk Art: The Edward Duff Balken Collection at Princeton," special issue, Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 57, no. 1/2 (1998): p. 164-208., p. 187
- Bryan R. Just. "Mysteries of the Maize God", Record of the Princeton University Art Museum 68 (2009): 2–15., fig. 1, p. 2
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 411
