PRECOLOMBIAN CERAMICAS    <--BACK

Cylindrical Vessel Duke  19 x 16 cms.

Classic MAYA, dated between 572 - 830 a. Chr.

Ceramic Chama in orange colour, with mineral pigments in red, brown, white and black. Duke University Museum of Art, Raleigh North Carolina USA Origin, region of the highlands of the Chama Valley, Quiche, Guatemala.

On this vessel is shown one of the last acts written in the most important book of the  Maya, the Popol Vuh.

Hun Hunahpu requires from the god N, to leave and to abandon the security of his shell and than to sacrifice it. This sacrifice ends with the dominion of the lord of the death and allows the heroic twins to escape from the underworld with two bones of their sacrificed parents.

This final act is the Mayan metaphor of the surrection of the human souls after death.