This is an exquisite example of a rare category of object in Classic Maya society: the travertine drinking vase. Travertine, a form of limestone with a sugary, translucent appearance when polished, requires a sculptor with specialized skill to work. The vessel’s delicate form and the finely incised details of its imagery attest to the remarkable abilities of the artist who created it. The scene etched into the surface of the vase, and rubbed with red pigment, depicts at its center two grappling combatants wielding sharpened bones, perhaps deer ulnae. Their shaven heads, the knotted cords around their necks, and the strips of barkpaper pulled through their earlobes indicate that they are captives. One, named in the caption above him as took’ aj chak xib, “Flint, he, the great/fierce male,” has gained advantage over the other, gouging his cheek while the other stabs at his side. Each combatant appears to be the champion of an attendant, both of whom stand to the side with additional weapons at the ready. Their dress marks them as elites. On the left, a man wears a scribe’s turban, along with a backrack bedecked in plumage and a fantastic oversized jaguar paw; on the right, a man draped in jade jewels and smoking a cigar bears on his head the accoutrements of a king, including a jade diadem headband (M.2010.115.245) and an elaborate feathered headdress.
The text along the rim of the vase does not relate to the pugilistic scene below. Instead, it names the object as a drinking cup belonging to a ballplayer, someone who must have held an elite position in society to own something so rare and finely crafted. As a luxury item used in palatial settings, the vase likely held a frothy chocolate drink.
Alyce de Carteret
2025
