Vessel Depicting a Sacrificial Ceremony for a Royal Accession

A.D. 650/800

Late Classic Maya
Mexico or Guatemala

This vessel, used to consume a chocolate drink, depicts a key event in a royal Maya accession ceremony, which shows the relationship between human sacrifice and the assumption of power. The expectant king is flanked by servants, musicians, and masked nobles, while a terrified captive—bound to a scaffold—awaits his death. It is probable that the victim was a warrior from a rival community defeated by the prospective king during a coronation war. Such sacrifices were required as proof of a new ruler’s military abilities, provided an offering to his patron gods, and served as a sign of the triumphant reign to follow.

On View: Arts of the Americas, Gallery 136

Culture: Maya
Title: Vessel Depicting a Sacrificial Ceremony for a Royal Accession
Origin: Mexico
Date: 650 CE–800 CE
Medium: Ceramic and pigment
Dimensions: H. 19.7 cm (7 3/4 in.)
Credit Line: Ada Turnbull Hertle Fund
Reference Number: 1969.239

Anne Paul. History on a Maya Vase. In Archaeology vol. 30, no. 2 (April 1976), pp. 118-126.
Linda Schele and Mary Miller. The Blood of Kings: Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art, exh. cat. (Kimbell Art Museum, 1986), plate 92, pp. 227-228, 238-239.
Bryan Just, Dancing into Dreams: Maya Vase Painting of the Ik’ Kingdom, exh. cat. (Princeton University Art Museum and Yale University Press, 2012), pp. 30-31, 200-204 (ill.).

Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum. The Blood of Kings: Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art, May 17-Aug. 24, 1986, cat., plate 92; traveled to Cleveland Museum of Art, Oct. 8-Dec. 14, 1986.
Princeton, N. J., Princeton University Art Museum, Dancing into Dreams: Maya Vase Painting of the Ik’ Kingdom, Oct. 6, 2012– Feb. 17, 2013, cat. no. 8 (ill.)

Robert and Marianne Huber Fine Arts (Huber Primitive Art), Dixon, Ill. and New York; sold to Art Institute, 1969.

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