Maya
Tortured prisoner
Maya, 700-900
Physical Qualities
Earthenware, 5 3/8 in. (13.6 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of Alan Wurtzburger
Object Number
1960.30.44
Jaina, the Place of the House of Water, is a small island off the coast of Mexico. Its extensive necropoli yielded thousands of ceramic figurines that represent Maya courtly life. Portrayals of Maya courtesans range from stately warriors and female weavers to sacrificial victims. Figures of captives were likely created to commemorate the battle achievements of rulers. This contorted figure clearly portrays the practice of torture, an uncommon representation in Maya visual art.
"The Blood of Kings: A New Interpretation of Maya Art," Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth [traveled to Cleveland Museum of Art], March 1986-January 1987, Linda Schele and Mary Ellen Miller
Octavio Paz, "The Blood of Kings; Food fo the Gods," The New York Review, February 26, 1987, vol. xxxiv, no. 3, pp. 3-7, illustration on page 6.
William Weber Johnson, "New Light on the Mysteries of the Maya," Smithsonian, May 1986, volume 17, no.2, pp. 39, 48, illustrarion p. 48
The Wurtzburger Collection of Pre-Columbian Art, Baltimore: Baltimore Museum of Art, 1958, p. 29 cat. #44, p. 44
