Squared vessel

755–780
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
Seated on a throne covered by a jaguar pelt, an old, cigar-smoking, jaguar-eared god presides over an assembly of ten deities. The associated hieroglyphic caption is brief: groups of named gods were aligned at K’inchil, or Great Sun Place, on August 11, 3114 b.c. The consequences of the gathering are unclear, but this mythical event was among those that set the world in order and created the conditions for the advent of people, cities, and kingdoms.


Lo’ Took’ Akan(?) Xok (Maya, activo siglo VIII)
Vasija cuadrada
Naranjo o alrededores, norte de Petén, Guatemala
755-80
Cerámica con engobe y decoración poscocción en estuco pintado

Un dios viejo con orejas felinas y fumando puro, sentado en un trono cubierto con piel de jaguar, preside una reunión de diez deidades. La inscripción jeroglífica que le acompaña es breve: los dioses nombrados se formaron en K’inchil, o "gran lugar del sol", el 11 de agosto de 3114 a. C. No se sabe con certeza cuáles fueron las consecuencias de ese evento, pero queda claro que fue uno de los acontecimientos mitológicos en los que se ordenó el mundo y se crearon las condiciones que permitieron el florecimiento de los pueblos, las ciudades y los reinos.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Squared vessel
  • Artist: Lo’ Took’ Akan (?) Xok (Maya, active 8th century)
  • Date: 755–780
  • Geography: Guatemala, Naranjo or vicinity, northern Peten
  • Culture: Maya
  • Medium: Slip-painted ceramic with post-fire stucco
  • Dimensions: H. 9 5/8 × W. 6 1/2 × D. 6 3/8 in. (24.45 × 16.51 × 16.19 cm)
  • Classification: Ceramics-Vessels
  • Credit Line: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Anonymous gift
  • Curatorial Department: The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing