Solid and hollow Maya ceramic figurines like these representing men wearing elaborate animal headdresses and masks are common funerary items, found primarily on Jaina Island in Mexico. High social status is indicated by the elaborate regalia and ornaments. The nobleman in the center wears a removable serpent-head headdress decorated with precious quetzal feathers, possibly associating him with the Feathered Serpent deity Kukulcán. The whistle on the left depicts a man wearing a jaguar mask and sacrificial scarf emblematic of the God of the Underworld. The rattle on the right represents a man wearing a bird mask and holding two rattles. His large, feathered back ornament is an attribute of the turkey or vulture. Turkeys (associated with fertility) and vultures (associated with sacrifice) were used as ceremonial offerings.


Figurillas maya sólidas y huecas como éstas, representando hombres que visten elaborados tocados animales y máscaras, son objetos funerarios comunes, encontrados principalmente en la Isla Jaina en México. La alta posición social se indica por los ropajes elaborados y la ornamentación. El hombre al centro lleva un tocado removible de cabeza de serpiente decorado con preciosas plumas de quetzal, asociándolo posiblemente a la deidad Kukulcán, la Serpiente Emplumada. El silbato a la izquierda muestra un hombre llevando una máscara de jaguar y un pañuelo ceremonial emblemático del Dios del Inframundo. La maraca a la derecha representa a un hombre llevando una máscara de pájaro, y sosteniendo dos maracas. El gran ornamento de plumas que lleva a su espalda es un atributo del pavo o zopilote. Pavos (asociados con fertilidad) y zopilotes (asociados con sacrificio) eran utilizados como ofrendas ceremoniales.

Gift of the Ernest Erickson Foundation, Inc.

These ivory figurines may be high-status versions of the miniature clay examples that have been found in burial contexts throughout the Andean region of South America. The small and delicate male and female carvings are decorated with stone and shell inlays that suggest that they possibly functioned as treasured talismans or ritual offerings.


Estas figurillas de marfil pueden tratarse de versiones de alto rango de los ejemplos de miniaturas de barro que se han encontrado en contextos funerarios a través de la región Andina de Sudamérica. Los pequeños y delicados tallados masculino y femenino están decorados con incrustaciones de piedra y concha, sugiriendo que tuvieron una función como amuletos atesorados o como ofrendas rituales.

Gift of the Ernest Erickson Foundation, Inc.

Frank L. Babbott Fund

Gift of William Spratling

Carll H. de Silver Fund

Frank Sherman Benson Fund and the Henry L. Batterman Fund

Museum Collection Fund

Small ceramic figurine representing a woman with a large headdress and incised facial features. The lines of the buttocks are incised and the breasts are prominent. The legs, which have protuberances at the back, are articulated and the arms vaguely suggested. CONDITION: good; the legs have been repaired at the hip line.