About This Artwork
Water-Lily VaseA.D. 750/800
Ceramic and pigment
24 x 15 cm (9.5 x 6 in.)
Ethel T. Scarborough Fund, 1986.1080
Vessels recovered from the Maya classic period (250 B.C. to A.D. 900) often have funerary associations that offer insights into the Mayan concept of death as well as the culture's belief in heroes and gods of the underworld. In Mayan cosmology, lakes and ponds were viewed as entrances to Xibalbá,the underworld land of honored ancestors. Water lilies growing in cenotes, raised fields, and canals were associated with the spirits of the dead.