Columbia

San Agustin

Ceramics

J_San Agustin 1

Details of a Classic period polychrome vase from the Agustin Acasaguastlan Region, Guatemala, animating an elite figure to kneel. The entire scene shows an enthroned ruler receiving the elite figure, animated in three sequential steps to present an offering. From the first to the second, the elite figure is animated to swap the hand in which he holds the cloth. In the third, he kneels with arms crossed over his chest, having draped two long cloth pieces over the edge of the lord’s throne; in the process he reveals two decapitated heads attached to his belt (offerings previously hidden by the long loincloth and skirt). Simultaneously, his elaborate feathered headdress is animated to transform and open.

Animation extracted and adapted from Reents-Budet 1994:257, fig. 6.25.