Vessel Depicting a Sacrificial Ceremony for a Royal Accession

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750/800, probably 753

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.

Status: On View, Gallery 136
Department: Arts of the Americas

Culture: Maya
Title: Vessel Depicting a Sacrificial Ceremony for a Royal Accession
Place: Mexico (Object made in)
Date: Depicted 753 CE
Medium: Ceramic and pigment
Dimensions: H. 19.7 cm (7 3/4 in.)
Credit Line: Ada Turnbull Hertle Fund
Reference Number: 1969.239
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Allen Wardwell, “Mayan Treasures at the Art Institute of Chicago,” Apollo: The International Magazine of Arts (June 1972), 487, 488; plate xii; drawing fig. 3.
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.).
Richard Townsend with Elizabeth Pope. 2016. Indian Art of the Americas at the Art Institute of Chicago. Art Institute of Chicago and Yale University Press, pg. 205, cat. 162 (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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