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Eccentric flint with profiles of K'awiil, the lightning god

2003-292

Shaped flints of this kind were placed in caches to consecrate new buildings. Legends recorded in the colonial era connect chert with lightning, and many Maya objects in this medium portray the lightning god K'awiil, identifiable by his human profile with scrolls emanating from his forehead. The fabrication of flaked chert objects was a difficult process that involved applying pressure to the edges of the stone with a bone or antler punch. "Flaking" the flint necessitated careful planning and considerable time, as there was no opportunity to correct the profile once it had been defined. Such works are remarkably detailed, from the definition of the eyes, nose, and lips to ornamental elements of the headdress.

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More Context

Didactics

For over ten thousand years, flint was the principal material for the fabrication of utilitarian objects in Mesoamerica. Legends in later times connect the stone with lightning, and many masterpieces of the Maya flint-worker's art portray the lightning god K'awiil, identifiable by his humanoid facial profile with scrolls emanating from his forehead. Shaped flints of this kind are found almost exclusively in caches beneath floors and seldom, if ever, in burials. Black or brown flint was preferred, perhaps because the dark color emphasizes the profile of the subject. Fabrication of these works was a difficult process, involving careful application of pressure to the edges of the stone with a bone or antler punch. "Flaking" the flint necessitated careful planning and considerable time, as there was no going back once the profile had been defined. Such works are remarkably well detailed, from the definition of the eyes, nose, and lips to ornamental elements of the headdress.

Information

Object Number

2003-292

Medium

Chert

Dates

A.D. 600–800

Dimensions

h. 33.3 cm., w. 15.0 cm., d. 1.1 cm. (13 1/8 x 5 7/8 x 7/16 in.)

Culture

Maya

Credit Line

Gift of Shelby White in honor of Gillett G. Griffin

Place Made

North America, Belize, Guatemala, or Mexico, Maya area

Type

ceremonial objects

Subject

lightning, profile (figure), headdresses, gray (color), figures (representations), gods, mythology

Materials

chert

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/231714876

Jill Guthrie, ed., In celebration: works of art from the Collections of Princeton Alumni and Friends of The Art Museum, Princeton University, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 1997)., p. 270, fig. 234

852 1997

https://www.jstor.org/stable/3774848

"Acquisitions of the Princeton University Art Museum 2003," Record of the Princeton University Art Museum 63 (2004): p. 101-141., p. 141

1822 2004

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/191864564

Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), 172 (illus.)

474 2007