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HOME :
Pre-Columbian Art :
Mayan Art : Mayan Terracotta Vessel in the Form of an Anteater
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Mayan Terracotta Vessel in the Form of an Anteater - CK.0607
Origin: Mesoamerica
Circa: 300
AD
to 900
AD
Dimensions:
4.75" (12.1cm) high
x 3.5" (8.9cm) wide
x 6.5" (16.5cm) depth
Collection: Pre-Columbian
Medium: Terracotta
$4,500.00
Location: United States
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| Description |
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The Classic Maya period was an age of profound intellectual and
artistic achievements, when the Maya built monumental
pyramids and magnificent urban centers in homage to their gods.
At a time when the Western world languished after the fall of the
Roman Empire, the New World experienced an age of imperial
grandeur, when great city-states like Tikal and Copán proclaimed
Mayan hegemony over the emerald forests of Mexico and
Guatemala. Theirs was a sophisticated but startlingly brutal
civilization— wars were waged not for land or prestige, but for
blood, for slaves sacrificed atop the great pyramids to appease
the god’s insatiable lust for human flesh. The Mayan world was
an arcane realm where the earth was contiguous with the
heavens and the underworld. It was a society infused with
spiritualism, a society that reflected both the majesty and
savagery of the rain forests. Like the ancient societies of the
Mediterranean, ceramic forms were vital to the Mayan economy
and traded alongside coveted resources such as Jade, obsidian,
flint, and shells.
The Maya believed the universe was divided into three parts: the
Over world (heaven), the Middle world (the world of humankind),
and the Underworld (hell). All three were considered
interconnected and accessible through "doorways", or through
Shamanic ritual. It was believed the Underworld could be entered
through a cave or through bodies of standing water, such as a
lake or ocean. To comprehend the nature of these three worlds
and the beings that inhabit them was important to daily life of
Maya society.
Mayan art was composed of a complex symbolic language with
deeply important social functions. Mainly commissioned by kings
and other elite figures, works of Mayan art fulfilled both political
and social purposes. Because the art functioned as a type of
language, to be understood by the entire population, a certain
consistency in subject matter and its portrayal was necessary.
Whether on a cylinder vessel or a great mural, Maya art
essentially depicts ritual. The impressive Maya ceremonies,
recorded for posterity in their art, were crucial events in the lives
of the kings, and consequently important to society as a whole. In
Maya believe, an actual ritual ceremony is directly connected with
the art which represents it; both conceived of as a power process
that transformed spiritual beings into corporeal beings on the
human level, and allowed people and objects to become the
sacred beings they represented.
In the 9th and 10th centuries AD, the productivity of the southern
regions went into decline for reasons that are still uncertain
(although ecological causes are the likeliest option), although the
northern areas continued to flourish on a reduced scale until the
arrival of European forces and the subsequent decimation of
Native American cultures across both continents. What is left,
however – particularly dating to the Classic Period – includes art
and other achievements that many consider to be the most
refined and beautiful of the ancient New World. Stucco, mural
painting (notably with the use of “Maya Blue”, the secret of which
has been lost since the 16th century) and sculpture were all of an
astounding quality and naturalism, with some sophisticated
expressionistic tendencies.
- (CK.0607)
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