Currently not on view
Rattle in the form of a bloated hanging corpse,
650–850
More Context
Didactics
To Western eyes, this figurine is striking for its sensitive rendition of such a gruesome subject, a decomposing corpse. Depictions of torture and death, however, are common in ancient Maya art. The contorted face is cocked to one side, suggesting that it once hung from a cord. He seems to have been hanging for some time, as his bloated belly with zones of decayed flesh and shriveled, desiccated feet accurately depict substantial decomposition, effectively calling to mind the stench of putrefaction. This subject was likely a captive taken in war, probably hung post-mortem as a humiliating, visceral reminder of subjugation. The placement of the right arm, with the hand (now missing) resting on the left shoulder, is a conventional gesture of submission among the ancient Maya. Perhaps the figure memorializes the ultimate surrender in death of a defiant adversary who, while living, refused to pledge fealty.
Information
650–850
North America, Guatemala or Mexico, Petén, Maya area
- "Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1989," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 49, no. 1 (1990): p. 24-57., p. 34
- Linda Schele, Hidden Faces of the Maya (Poway: ALTI Publishing, 1997)., pl. 23, p. 116 (illus.)
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 141 (illus.)
- Beatriz M. Reyes-Foster, "Unraveling Ix Tab: Revisiting the 'Suicide Goddess' in Maya Archaeology," Ethnohistory 63, no. 1 (Jan., 2016): p. 1-27., fig. 6, p. 18 (illus.)
