Maya Ancestor Emerging from a Flower in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 2022

Title: Ancestor emerging from a flower

Date: 7th–9th century

Geography: Mexico, Campeche

Culture: Maya

Medium: Ceramic, pigment

Dimensions: H. 4 13/16 × W. 2 5/8 × D. 1 3/8 in., 3.315oz. (12.3 × 6.7 × 3.5 cm, 94g)

Classification: Ceramics-Sculpture

Credit Line: Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City, Secretaría de Cultura–Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia

Accession Number: SL.2.2022.13.5

In Maya thought, the bones of the dead are comparable to plant seeds that carry progeny and fertilize the earth. The old man here is an ancestor, growing like flowers in the afterlife. These objects functioned as whistles: blowing into the stem would create sounds that animated the rituals in which they were used.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/843771