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alb3602748

Cylindrical vessel

Cylindrical Vessel. Culture: Maya. Dimensions: H. 5 1/4 x Diam. 4 1/8 in. (13.3 x 10.5 cm). Date: 7th-8th century. This cylindrical vessel framed by red bands contains a hieroglyphic text around its rim and shows two seated gods. It is painted in the 'codex-style', and the artist used simple shading to emphasize the two figures. The deities could be a version of K'awiil, the Maya god of lightning, as evidenced by the smoking scrolls emerging from their foreheads. 'Codex-style' pots are so-called for the style of painting which bears a close resemblance to the four extant screen-fold Maya books, known as codices, located in Madrid, Paris, Dresden, and Mexico City. These books date to the Postclassic Period (ca. a.d. 1000-1492). The characteristics of the codex-style are a cream or yellowish slipped background, often framed by red bands above and below, and a black calligraphic line outlining figures and hieroglyphic texts. Sometimes the painters applied a gray wash to shade figures or other features. In contrast to the richly polychromed vases and bowls from the large corpus of Maya vessels, codex-style pots stand apart in their grayscale, which is almost certainly a reflection of their development vis-à-vis calligraphic books.
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Title:
Cylindrical vessel
Caption:
Cylindrical Vessel. Culture: Maya. Dimensions: H. 5 1/4 x Diam. 4 1/8 in. (13.3 x 10.5 cm). Date: 7th-8th century. This cylindrical vessel framed by red bands contains a hieroglyphic text around its rim and shows two seated gods. It is painted in the 'codex-style', and the artist used simple shading to emphasize the two figures. The deities could be a version of K'awiil, the Maya god of lightning, as evidenced by the smoking scrolls emerging from their foreheads. 'Codex-style' pots are so-called for the style of painting which bears a close resemblance to the four extant screen-fold Maya books, known as codices, located in Madrid, Paris, Dresden, and Mexico City. These books date to the Postclassic Period (ca. a.d. 1000-1492). The characteristics of the codex-style are a cream or yellowish slipped background, often framed by red bands above and below, and a black calligraphic line outlining figures and hieroglyphic texts. Sometimes the painters applied a gray wash to shade figures or other features. In contrast to the richly polychromed vases and bowls from the large corpus of Maya vessels, codex-style pots stand apart in their grayscale, which is almost certainly a reflection of their development vis-à-vis calligraphic books.
Technique/material:
Ceramic, slip, pigment
Museum:
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
Credit:
Album / Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY
Releases:
Model: No - Property: No
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Image size:
2581 x 3098 px | 22.9 MB
Print size:
21.9 x 26.2 cm | 8.6 x 10.3 in (300 dpi)
Keywords: