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Chaak deity plate
Chaak deity plate

Chaak deity plate

DateA.D. 550-950
MediumPolychrome ceramic
Dimensions11 3/4 inches (29.8 cm)
CultureMaya (Mexico)
ClassificationsCeramics
Credit LineAcquired through the Membership Purchase Fund
Terms
  • Campeche
  • Ceramics
  • Vessels - Plates
  • pigment
  • Gods
  • Maya
Object number72.091
Label CopyThis large Maya plate is decorated with a long-nosed deity figure, probably representing the rain god Chaak (Chac), a benevolent figure to the ancient Maya. Chaak is associated with agricultural fertility; he is said to have created the first ear of corn or maize by splitting the sacred stone with his axe. He is often depicted with a feathered axe in his hand, symbolizing lightening, which is the long object near the top of the plate which is pictured curving to the right. This deity has blood scrolls or symbolically equivalent corn kernels in a line across its middle, and a possible Maya day name glyph near the top of the image. The circular white objects may represent shells. Although this painting is extremely stylized, Chaak also usually has a fanged mouth, cat-like whiskers, and a reptilian snout, with tears falling from his eyes. Chaak has four principal aspects, one for each of the cardinal directions: Chaak xibchaak, the red Chaak of the east, Sak xibchaak, the white Chaak of the north, Ek xibchaak, the black Chaak of the west, and Kan xibchaak, the yellow Chaak of the south. Each of these directions had religious significance, and four was a sacred number in many native pre-Columbian societies. Chaak is roughly equivalent to the later Aztec rain god Tlaloc, to Cocijo, the Zapotec rain god, to Dzahui, the Totonac rain god, and to Chupithiripeme, the Tarascan rain god.
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