Cylinder vase

This vase is considered one of the finest examples of Maya painting. The artist's mastery of the watercolor-like quality of slip paint is particularly remarkable here. Notice the subtle washes on the bodies, extremely difficult to achieve with clay-based paints. The scene depicts the birth of the Maize god, flanked by a supernatural with jaguar attributes and another with Sun-god features. The white umbilical cord that unifies the scene also encouraged the viewer to rotate the vase. The hieroglyphic text records the birth's mythological date and supernatural locale, Na-Ho-Chan (Five Sky House).