The following lecture will take place at 6 pm on Thursday, April 14th, in the Lecture Hall of the Institute of Fine Arts, 1 East 78th Street at Fifth Avenue. A reception with wine and cheese will follow in the Loeb Room. RSVP to info@pcsny.org

Creation Narratives on Ancient Maya Codex-Style Ceramics in The Metropolitan Museum

James A. Doyle
(Asst. Curator, Dept. of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art)

Within the Classic Maya royal courts (ca. a.d. 250–900), slip-painted ceramic drinking cups did more than deliver chocolate and other savory drinks to guests at parties and feasts. They served as active agents, as storytellers. The curve of the cylindrical vessel allowed only a portion of the scene to be viewed, inviting the user to turn the vessel slowly clockwise in order to take in the entirety of the wonderfully detailed paintings. These painted vessels were not decorative art objects per se; they were a form of dynamic, illustrated literature. In this presentation, curator James Doyle examines Classic Maya vessels painted in what is known as the codex style in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. By comparing the imagery painted on these and other, related vessels, he proposes new interpretations of the foundational Maya myths about rain, agriculture, and the rebirth of new things out of death and destruction.

Please note that seating in the Lecture Hall is on a first-come, first-served basis with RSVP. There will be a simulcast in an adjacent room to accommodate overflow. Latecomers are not guaranteed a seat.

Followed by a reception with wine and cheese in the Loeb Room