A Published and Important Maya Polychrome Vase depicting The Hero Twins, Classic Period ca. 500 - 800 CE

This rare and finely painted cylindrical polychrome vase, is one of the strongest Classic-period painted depictions of the Hero Twins, Hunahpú and Xbalanqué, inside the House of Bats (Zotzilaha), one of the most dramatic and deadly trials they face in the underworld Xibalba.  According to the narrative, the Lords of Xibalba, the ruling deities of the Maya underworld who oversee death, disease, misfortune, and the ritual trials that challenge the Hero Twins, seal the twins inside this cavernous chamber as part of their ordeals. The painter creates the enclosed, perilous enclosure through a continuous register of repeated bat-head panels, each representing the swarming presence of Camazotz, the death bat deity. This gridded architecture is a hallmark of Classic Maya depictions of underworld enclosures and signals the claustrophobic danger the Twins faced. Within the chamber, each Twin holds a blowgun, symbolizing the moment in the myth when they conceal themselves inside their tubes to a