Cup with underworld god figure

Cup with underworld god figure, ceramic, height 32 cms., Mixtec, Postclassic, Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City.

This cup represents the god Yaa Dzandaya, Mixtec lord of the underworld, who brandishes a flint knife with which to end life. Interestingly, the artist designed and made the vessel with a moveable skull. From Zaachila, Oaxaca.

Adapted/translated from Museo Nacional de Antropología México guidebook (in Spanish), CONACULTA-INAH, 2004, p. 221.

Photo by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore.