The imagery of this repoussé platter is inspired by the Oval Palace Tablet at Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico. It depicts the accesion of Pakal, who sits on a double-headed jaguar throne as his mother offers him a crown to symbolize his kingship. Matilde Poulat probably based her design on an illustration by Jean-Frédéric Waldeck, a ninteenth-century French traveling artist who created illustrations of Mayan art and architecture.
