Cylindrical Vessel

Artist:Maya

Medium: Ceramic, pigment

Geograhical Locations:

• Highlands, Guatemala
• Yucatan, Mexico

Dates:ca. 550–950 C.E.

Dimensions: 6 1/4 x 5 3/8 x 5 3/8 in. (15.9 x 13.7 x 13.7 cm)

Collections:

• Arts of the Americas

Exhibitions:

• Life, Death, and Transformation in the Americas
• Climate in Crisis: Environmental Change in the Indigenous Americas

Accession Number: 1998.176.2

Image: 1998.176.2.jpg,

Catalogue Description:
Polychrome vessel with a procession of warrior figures with trophy heads hanging from their waists surrounding a bound prisoner who has been stripped of his clothes except for a trophy head (possibly a disgraced warrior). The prisoner's penis has been split in two and as blood drips down, he screams in pain (the speech glyphs above his head indicate screaming). The figure behind him holds an executioner's staff topped with a large obsidian knife.

Brooklyn Museum