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Young moon goddess, old underworld god

Colour: 10 YR 6/3, pale brown (clay). Red colour residues on the head, face, upper body and arms, as well as on the top of the woman's skirt. In the male depiction there are red colour residues on the head, upper body and arms. Blue paint residue can be found on the face, the ear discs, the left breast, the right arm and the woman's skirt. The man's face, earrings, scarf, bracelets, waist belt, apron and legs are covered in blue paint. There are also large areas of blue paint residue on the base plate. Production technique: Hand-modelled Function: - Type: - Pose: Kneeling/sitting. On a small pedestal (0.5 cm high, 12 cm wide, 6 cm deep), a woman kneels on her heels on the right with her right hand resting on her right knee. Her left arm is missing. To her left is a bald man with his legs crossed. His face has many wrinkles and his eyes are closed into slits. The narrow-lipped mouth is open, the lower jaw pushed forwards. Two canine teeth are visible in the upper jaw. His right hand grasps her left knee, while his left hand rests on his right upper arm. Clothing: She: upper body naked. Skirt. He: narrow waist belt, apron in the centre. Jewellery: She: ear discs. He: Long oval earrings, dotted. Scarf, dotted. Bracelets, dotted. Remarks: Between the two is a pot with vertical red and blue coloured stripes. The arms are roughly attached to the torso (only visible from behind). A very rare representation of a double figure among the hand-modelled and massive figures found to date. (Sambale 2003)

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Data Provider
Ethnologisches Museum Show original at data provider

Cataloguing data

Cultural attribution
Maya
Object type
Pair of clay figures
Dimensions
Height: 10,5 cm
Depth: 6 cm
Width: 12 cm
Material/Technique
Sound
Current location
Ethnologisches Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Inventory number
IV Ca 4943

Provenance and sources

  • Production
    when
    Late Classical
    where
    Mexico
    Yucatán
    who
    Maya
  • Collecting
    who
    Florentino Jimeno - Collectors
  • Assignment to a curated holding:
    American Archaeology

Information about the record

Legal status metadata
CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED
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