Art Institute of Chicago

Chak Ak’ Paat Kuy ("Red Turkey") Playing the Ballgame

Late Classic Maya

Date

650-700

Medium

Limestone

Culture

Guatemala

Department

Arts of the Americas

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

In Central America, the best-known sculptors are the Maya, who decorated their temples and sacred precincts with finely carved stone reliefs representing powerful dynastic rulers involved in various secular and religious activities. This fragmentary ball-court panel from the late eighth century shows two men, dressed in elaborate costumes, engaged in a ritual ball game. Surrounding the figures, and clearly set off from them, are fragments of hieroglyphs by which the Maya identified the players and the date on which the game occurred.

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