Carved Box
Guatemala, northern Peténapan , circa 446 A.D.
Ceramic
10 3/4 x 17 3/4 x 13 3/4 in. (27.31 x 45.09 x 34.93 cm)
Purchased with funds provided by Camilla Chandler Frost through the 2008 Collectors Committee
M.2008.59

This elegantly carved and incised box, once the receptacle for the valued possessions of an unknown king, represents a tour de force of Maya ceramic art. The largest known object of its kind, the box is adorned with full-figure images of six of the most important supernatural beings from the Maya pantheon. The front panel records the last part of a date in the Maya calendrical system.  The full date can be reconstructed as occurring in the mid-fifth century, and the style of the carving corresponds to that date.
 Large, round lidded ceramic vessels that once contained royal paraphernalia are well-documented between AD 250-500, but this is the only known ceramic box from that period. A fragmentary carved wooden box and a stone box, recently found in a cave in Guatemala, attest to the occasional use of the form. The unusual scale of this box suggests that it may have once held royal garments or books, protected within the sealed environment from insects and the humidity of the tropical climate.

 Powerful in scale and richly adorned, this ceramic box embodies the essence of royal prerogatives of art patronage and esoteric knowledge. An extraordinary vestige of an early king's reign, the box provides incomparable insights into the origins and expression of divine and secular authority among the ancient Maya. (Virginia Fields, Senior Curator Art of the Ancient Americas)

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