Vessel with Carved Motifs

This oval vessel features two panels that illustrate supernatural creatures related to Maya creation narratives. On one side is the undulating body of a water serpent pierced with a spear. The other side bears a disembodied head, representing the spirit of active water, or witz’. On its forehead is a tied bundle with a fish nibbling at a water-lily blossom. Since the vessel shows only the slain creatures and not the hunters, it may have defined the owner as the hero. Classic Maya rulers and nobles often sought to create alignments between themselves and the events of religious narratives. They envisioned their world surrounded by the sea; water evoked the most primordial events in Maya creation.