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Cylindrical Vase. Probably Guatemalan Highlands. Maya artist, circa 700–800, Ceramic, pigments, 6 1/4 x 5 3/8 x 5 3/8 in. (15.9 x 13.7 x 13.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift in memory of Frederic Zeller, 1998.176.2
At the height of Maya civilization (300–900), the primary art form was painting, particularly on ceramic vessels. Painted images recorded historical and mythological events. This vase depicts the outcome of a military battle. Twelve elaborately dressed warriors, many with trophy heads hanging from their waists, surround a bound captive, who has been stripped naked in a humiliating public display. The prisoner's genitals have been mutilated, and as blood drips down he screams in pain, as indicated by the speech glyphs above his head. The mutilation, probably performed by the figure behind him holding an executioner's staff topped by a large, obsidian knife, is a ritual bloodletting offered to the gods prior to the captive's certain death by decapitation.
Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum