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Artisan

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.)
Credit Line
John L. Severance Fund 1994.12.1
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.
An earthenware sculpture depicts a figure with monkey-like features and a thin human body wearing a large headdress and layers of jewelry and sitting cross-legged on a domed base. The figure is colored remnants of burnt orange, blue, red, and yellow. They bare their teeth, showing fangs, as they lean forward and over a mask held in their left hand, their right hand hovering over it, as if at work.

Artisan

250–600 CE

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

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