Plaque

700‒900 CE
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
These plaques, sculpted in styles not local to Chichen Itza, attest to the wide-ranging trade networks in place near the end of the first millennium A.D. One, in a central Mexican style, features a warrior seated on a serpent; ready to attack, he holds a loaded spear thrower in his right hand and a dart in his left. Another plaque depicts a richly attired figure holding a small cacao tree and standing on a monumental crab. This object is sculpted in a style known from Guatemala’s Pacific coast, where cacao—highly valued in ancient Mesoamerica and the main component of chocolate today—was grown.




Estas placas, esculpidas con estilos extranjeros, reflejan las extensas redes comerciales que existían hacia el final del primer milenio a. C. Una de ellas, esculpida con un estilo del centro de México, representa a un guerrero sentado en una serpiente. Preparado para el ataque, el personaje sujeta una lanza en su mano derecha y un lanzadardos en la izquierda. La otra representa a un personaje con un suntuoso atuendo parado sobre un inmenso cangrejo al tiempo que sujeta un pequeño árbol de cacao. El estilo de esta placa proviene de la costa del Pacífico guatemalteco, donde el cacao (altamente preciado en Mesoamérica y actualmente el mayor componente del chocolate) era cultivado.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Plaque
  • Date: 700‒900 CE
  • Geography: Mexico, Yucatan
  • Culture: Maya
  • Medium: Jadeite
  • Dimensions: 3 11/16 × 5 1/16 × 1/4 in. (9.3 × 12.8 × 0.6 cm)
  • Classification: Stone Sculpture
  • Credit Line: Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, Peabody Museum Expedition, 1907–1910 (10-71-20/ C6666)
  • Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing