A Bat Attitude – Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts

The K’iché (Quiché in Spanish) are a Mayan people who live in Guatemala. The semi-hemispherical lid of this burial or cache urn is embellished with a sculpted and painted rendering of a seated anthropomorphic bat with large round ears, open mouth, protruding tongue, and front paws resting on bent knees. The bat wears a twisted scarf and crenelated collar, which may make reference to one of the supernatural jaguars associated with the underworld and sacrifice.