Vessel, Seated Deities 6th-7th century Maya This large, barrel-shaped polychrome cylinder vessel contains three images of a deity seated on thrones around its body. The rim of the vessel contains a band decorated with lightly painted pseudo-glyphs, images that give the appearance of writing without being actually legible. The baroque scene with the deities, covered in jewels and elaborate regalia, may pertain to a long-lost Maya myth from the 5th-6th centuries. The deity depicted in the two scenes sits cross-legged and raises its right arm while folding its left arm over its torso. The body of the deity is painted red and decorated with pill-shaped motifs that have been identified as marks of shininess in Maya art. Though the feet of the deity, painted in a gray wash, appear human, the gesturing hands are in the form of clawed jaguar paws. The loincloth is also a jaguar pelt, as is the cushion of the throne. The jaguar ears, along with the square-shaped eye with spiraled pupil, crulle