Artwork Page for Two Artisans

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Two Artisans

250–600 CE

Guatemala, Petén region, Maya style (250-900), Maya style

(250-900)
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Medium
earthenware with colored slips
Measurements
Overall: 56.5 x 22 x 35.5 cm (22 1/4 x 8 11/16 x 14 in.); Part 2: 59 x 26 x 22 cm (23 1/4 x 10 1/4 x 8 11/16 in.)
Credit Line
John L. Severance Fund 1994.12
Public Domain
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Location
233 Mesoamerican and Intermediate Region
Print

Description

These figures represent the supernatural patrons of the visual arts and writing: the brothers Hun Batz and Hun Chuen ("One Monkey" and "One Artisan"). The two were refined artists but also bullies who tormented their younger brothers, who took revenge by transforming their elders into monkeys. Many Maya representations of the painter-scribes immortalize this fate by depicting the pair with both simian and human features, as here. The brothers are shown engaged in artistic or scribal pursuits. Sitting on high-domed bases that may have served as the lids of incense or offering bowls, each apparently once grasped a tool in his upper hand—for instance, a paint brush or a stylus for writing. In the lower hand, one cradles a small mask and the other, a piece of bark that likely refers to the beaten bark from which the Maya made books.
Two earthenware sculptures of figures with remnants of burnt orange, blue, and yellow coloring, wearing large headdresses and layers of jewelry and sitting cross-legged on domed bases. The figure on the left has monkey-like features, including bared teeth and a curling tail. Both figures hold their right hands up, as if working on the mask held in the other hand by the left figure or the bark piece held by the right figure.

Two Artisans

250–600 CE

Guatemala, Petén region, Maya style (250-900), Maya style (250-900)

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