Mayan Sun God in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, December 2022

Title: Sun God (K’inich)

Date: 7th–8th century

Geography: Mexico, Chiapas, Palenque

Culture: Maya

Medium: Stucco

Dimensions: H. 8 3/4 × W. 6 7/16 × D. 4 3/4 in., 5.6 lb. (22.3 × 16.4 × 12 cm, 2521g)

Classification: Stucco-Sculpture

Credit Line: Museo Regional de Antropología Carlos Pellicer Cámara, Villahermosa, Secretaría de Cultura del Estado de Tabasco, Mexico

Accession Number: SL.2.2022.21.3


This portrait of K’inich, the Sun God, was once part of the ornamentation of a building in the palace complex at Palenque. As the seat of royal authority, the palace buildings were covered with stuccoed and painted decoration that linked the kings of Palenque to the city’s patron gods and proclaimed their long dynastic background. Deceased rulers were glorified as new suns emerging from cartouches normally occupied by the Sun God. In this portrait, the solar deity is recognizable by the squinting eyes and T-shaped teeth. Some individuals sought to replicate this appearance by cutting the outer corners of their frontal incisors.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/820329