Portraits of deities combine human and nonhuman attributes. Carved in costly jade, this effigy figure seated in the customary pose of a king wearing elaborate jewels also boasts animal features, including scales on the arms and a pointed beak. Still other elements, such as the large eyes with square pupils, have no correlates in the natural world, underscoring the figure’s divine status.
Figura de deidad Sur de México, Guatemala, Honduras o Belice Siglo III al VI Jade
Los retratos de los dioses combinan rasgos humanos y no humanos. Esta imagen, labrada en jade, muestra a un personaje ricamente ataviado con joyas, sentado en la posición usual de los monarcas. También se distinguen escamas en sus brazos y el pico puntiagudo de un ave. Los grandes ojos con pupilas cuadradas destacan su condición divina.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Deity figure
Date:3rd–6th century
Geography:Southern Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, or Belize
Culture:Maya
Medium:Jade (pyroxene jadeite)
Dimensions:H. 4 1/4 x W. 2 1/2 x D. 15/16 in. (10.8 x 6.4 x 2.3 cm)
Classifications:Stone-Sculpture, Jade
Credit Line:The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Bequest of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1979
Accession Number:1979.206.1069
[Allan Caplan, New York, until 1963]; Nelson A. Rockefeller, New York, 1963, on loan to The Museum of Primitive Art, New York, 1963–1978
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art of Oceania, Africa and the Americas from The Museum of Primitive Art," May 10–August 17, 1969.
American Federation of Arts. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," January 5, 1975–May 15, 1977.
Seattle Art Museum. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," January 5, 1975–February 16, 1975.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," March 23, 1975–May 4, 1975.
Dallas Museum of Art. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," June 8, 1975–July 20, 1975.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," August 25, 1975–October 10, 1975.
Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," November 9, 1975–December 21, 1975.
Toledo Museum of Art. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," April 11, 1976–May 25, 1976.
Walker Art Center. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," June 27, 1976–August 8, 1976.
Denver Art Museum. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," September 10, 1976–November 7, 1976.
de Young Museum, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. "Primitive Art/Masterworks," March 12, 1977–May 15, 1977.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Lives of the Gods: Divinity in Maya Art," November 14, 2022–April 2, 2023.
Kimbell Art Museum. "Lives of the Gods: Divinity in Maya Art," May 7–September 3, 2023.
Núñez Ch., Jesús. "Placas de jade de las ruinas Mayas de Copan." 33 Congreso Internacional de Americanistas, San Jose vol. 2 (1958), pp. 219–28, pl. 3.
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American Federation of Arts. Primitive Art Masterworks: an exhibition jointly organized by the Museum of Primitive Art and the American Federation of Arts, New York. New York: American Federation of Arts, 1974, no. 19.
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Newton, Douglas. Masterpieces of Primitive Art: The Nelson A. Rockefeller Collection. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1978, p. 155.
Parsons, Lee Allen. "Altars 9 and 10, Kaminaljuyu, and the Evolution of the Serpent-Winged Deity." In Civilization in the Ancient Americas, Essays in Honor of Gordon R. Willey, edited by Richard M. Leventhal. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1983, pp. 145–56.
Cortez, Constance. "The Principal Bird Deity in Preclassic and Early Classic Maya Art." Master's thesis, University of Texas at Austin, 1986.
Schele, Linda, and Mary Ellen Miller. The Blood of Kings: Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art. New York and Fort Worth: George Braziller, 1986, p. 122, pl. 35.
Hellmuth, Nicholas M. Monster Und Menschen in Der Maya-Kunst : Eine Ikonographie Der Alten Religionen Mexikos Und Guatemalas. Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1987.
Taube, Karl A. A Representation of the Principal Bird Deity in the Paris Codex. Research Reports on Ancient Maya Writing, no. 6. Washington, DC: Center for Maya Research, 1987.
Kerr, Justin. "The hero twins: myth and image." In The Maya Vase Book: A Corpus of Rollout Photographs of Maya Vases, edited by Justin Kerr. Vol. 1. New York: Kerr Associates, 1989, pp. 161–84.
Fash, William L. Scribes, Warriors and Kings: The City of Copán and the Ancient Maya. London, 1991 [2001], See especially pl. VIII and pp. 147–49.
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Taube, Karl A. "The Jade Hearth: Centrality, Rulership, and the Classic Maya Temple." In Function and Meaning in Classic Maya Architecture, edited by Stephen D. Houston. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1998, pp. 427–79.
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Fash, Barbara W., and Karla Davis-Salazar. "Setting the Stage: Origins of the Hieroglyphic Stairway Plaza on the Great Period Ending." In Understanding Early Classic Copan, edited by Ellen E. Bell, Marcello A. Canuto, and Robert J. Sharer. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2004, pp. 65–83.
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Boundary End Archaeological Research Center. Sacred Bundles: Ritual Acts of Wrapping and Binding in Mesoamerica, edited by Julia Guernsey, and F. Kent Reilly III. Barnardsville, NC, 2006.
Stuart, David. "Jade and Chocolate: Bundles of Wealth in Classic Maya Economics and Ritual." In Sacred Bundles: Ritual Acts of Wrapping and Binding in Mesoamerica, edited by Julia Guernsey, and F. Kent Reilly III. Barnardsville, NC: Boundary End Archaeological Research Center, 2006, pp. 127–44.
Stuart, David. "The Name of Paper: The Mythology of Crowning and Royal Nomenclature on Palenque’s Palace Tablet." In Maya Archaeology 2, edited by Charles Golden, Stephen D. Houston, and Joel Skidmore. San Francisco: Precolumbia Mesoweb Press, 2006, pp. 118–48.
Christenson Allen J. Popul Vuh: The Sacred Book of the Ancient Maya. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007.
Bassie-Sweet, Karen. Maya Sacred Geography and the Creator Deities. Civilization of the American Indian Series. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2008, See especially pp. 140–49.
Taube, Karl A., William A. Saturno, and Heather Hurst. The Murals of San Bartolo, El Petén, Guatemala; Part 2: The West Wall. Ancient America, Vol. no. 10. Barnardsville, NC: Boundary End Archaeological Research Center, 2010.
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Chinchilla Mazariegos, Oswaldo, James Doyle, and Joanne Pillsbury, eds. Lives of the Gods: Divinity in Maya Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2022.
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