Figure Emerging from a Waterlily

Item number 70.31 from the Brooklyn Museum.

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Description

The delicately modeled ceramic figurine is Jaina in style and reveals the upper part of a figure emerging from a water lily. The figure is red with ornaments (necklace, earrings, and headdress) in cream color. The tip of the headdress is blue. There are other trace amounts of blue on the stem and petals of the flower. The figure's arms are folded across the waist. The flower has three pointed petals: one is in the front-center section, turned downward, exposing the inside texture of the lily that is handled with an application of clay dots; a second stands upward in the back, enveloping the figure; and a third stands upward on the proper left side of the lily. Because the water lily is associated with the Underworld in Maya cosmology, this figurine may symbolize the renewal of life after death. Condition; good; there are two repaired breaks in the stem and two repaired breaks in the headdress. There are also two broken edges at the proper right side of the blue central portion of the headdress, probably where two appliquéd segments had been attached.

Credit Line

Dick S. Ramsay Fund

Label

This delicately modeled ceramic figurine depicts a bejeweled male figure emerging from a water lily. Hundreds of figurines in this style have been found on Jaina Island, just off Mexico’s Campeche coast. The island served as an elite Maya burial site.

The water lily is associated with the underworld in Maya cosmology. The figurine may symbolize the renewal of life after death, making it an especially appropriate burial offering.

Item History

  • Made between 600 and 900

What

Name
Figure Emerging from a Waterlily
Identification Number
70.31
Type of Item
figure
Material
ceramic and pigment
Overall
length 8.25 in, width 2.125 in, height 1.6875 in

Where

Holding Institution
Brooklyn Museum

Who

Culture
Maya

When

Creation Date
between 600 and 900

Other

Location
American Identities: A New Look, American Art Galleries, 5th Floor, The Americas’ First Peoples, 4000 B.C.E.–1521 C.E., 5th Floor
Classification
Sculpture

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