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Inside his tomb, Yax Nuun Ayiin's body lay upon a wooden litter or funerary bier, and at least nine sacrificed young men accompanied him to the underworld. Jade jewels, five turtle carapaces, and many stuccoed-and-painted ceramic vessels were in the tomb, together with this lidded tripod vessel.
Its form and decorative technique recall Teotihuacan ceramics, while its imagery and hieroglyphic texts are Mayan. The vessel's chemical composition implies that it was made in a Tikal workshop that produced wares for an exclusive clientele. The Sub-Jaguar Tomb, found beneath the Jaguar Stairs at Copan, may be the burial of Ruler 8, a mid-sixth-century ruler. The interred individual had a shell spangle headdress like that worn in death by K'inich Yax K'uk' Mo'. There were twenty-eight ceramic vessels in the tomb, of which sixteen were made in the vicinity of Quirigua, an important site in the nearby Motagua River Valley that in later years would become a formidable adversary of Copan. The pottery in the Sub-Jaguar Tomb, however, indicates that relations were friendlier during the sixth century. |
Lidded Tripod Vessel (top and side views).
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| Stucco was applied over the original carved-incised and slip-painted surfaces of the pair of lidded tripod vessels below. the post-fire painted imagery, which depicts a feathered feline devouring a human heart, recalls Teotihuacan iconography, while the curvilinear image style, human portrait head knobs, and profile saurian heads on the lids are all from Maya artistic canons. In addition, the chemical composition of the paste on both vessels is nearly identical to that of ceramics produced at Quirigua. |
Lidded Tripod Vessel. |
Lidded Tripod Vessel. |
| The two lidless tripod vessels below might also have been made as a pair, and likely in a Quirigua workshop. Both depict water or sacred liquid motifs, one with Maya-style (left) and the other with Teotihuacan-style imagery (right). The Maya-style vessel is decorated with four saurian heads in cartouches. The vessel with Teotihuacan-style images is embellished with three images of a feather-encircled star with water issuing from its lower edge. |
Tripod Vessel with Maya Hieroglyphs. |
Tripod Vessel with Teotihuacan Hieroglyphs. |
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References: Bell, Ellen E. 2005. "Building a Dynasty: Early Classic Kingship at Copan." In Virginia M. Fields and Dorie Reents-Budet, Lords of Creation: Origins of Sacred Maya Kingship. London and Los Angeles: Scala. Agurcia Fasquelle, Ricardo 2005. "Rosalila: Temple of the Sun King at Copan." In Fields and Reents-Budet, Lords of Creation: Origins of Sacred Maya Kingship. Bell, Ellen E., Robert J. Sharer, Loa P. Traxler, David W. Sedat, Christine W. Carrelli, and Lynn A. Grant. 2004. "Tombs and Burials in the Early Classic Acropolis at Copan." In Bell et al., Understanding Early Classic Copan, 151-54. Reents-Budet, Dorie, Ellen E. Bell, Loa P. Traxler, and Ronald L. Bishop. 2004. "Early Classic Ceramic Offerings at Copan. In Bell et al., Understanding Early Classic Copan, 181-90, fig. 9.14. Coggins, Clemency C. 1975. "Painting and Drawing Styles at Tikal: An Historical and Iconographic Reconstruction." Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University. Coe, William R. 1990. Excavations in the Great Plaza, North Terrace, and North Acropolis of Tikal. Tikal Report 14. 6 vols. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum. Culbert, T. Patrick 1993. The Ceramics of Tikal: Vessels from the Burials, Caches, and Problematic Deposits. University Museum Monographs 81. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, fig. 19c. Martin, Simon, and Nikolai Grube. 2000. Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens. London: Thames & Hudson, 29-33. |
Copyright 2005 Los Angeles County Museum of Art