Dancing into Dreams: Maya Vase Painting of the Ik' Kingdom

A catalogue of Classic Period maya ceramics exhibited at Princeton in 2012. The book presents the most recent analysis of ceramics from both an archaeological & art historical perspective. By focusing on the pottery from Motul de San Jose, Brian Just examines the organization of the Maya court from a holistic perspective. It is not, however, a introductory survey about the Maya civilization. Some background knowledge is assumed & required to appreciate the nuances. The book is a major contribution to the field of Maya studies and makes one long to see the exhibit.

This book served as a guide for a recent exhibit of Maya Vases. The text is quite scholarly and probably goes way beyond the layman's interest and/or understanding. The photos of the vases are numerous and beautiful, although it is my opinion that they should have had Justin Kerr do the photos with his famous rollout technique. Too often it takes 3 to 4 photos to show the entire scene on the vases in this book. The rollout technique would have really enhanced the ability to view the images.The text is really in depth, concentrating more on the glyphs associated with the vases than on interpreting the images. In many instances, we can now read the name of the artists who made the vases and who they were made for, but the lay reader is going to find this way beyond his/her interest.I'm glad I bought the book as it shows many vases I've not previously seen, but I have to admit the text is a bit more than I can handle.

This excellent book discusses Mayan ceramic art from the ancient site named Motul de San Jose and presents many photos of said art works, both in the round and flat. The book is about the production, distribution and uses of such art, and it goes into these subjects in depth and quite intelligently. The authors discuss technical aspects of slip painting and use of space on the ceramic pieces. They talk about various pigments used in the painting of the ceramics. They compare the different pieces with each other to see what can be learned about each piece from comparing and contrasting it with its peers. They talk at several points about art pieces that were properly excavated by archaeologists vs. pieces that were excavated by art thieves, and what is lost when art thieves do excavation. They translate the glyphs on the ceramics and discuss what these translations tell us about the artists who made them and the patrons who financed them. In short, this book is a detailed look at ceramic art from this accomplished production center, and it approaches the subject from many angles.I enjoyed this book, but it's not written for beginners. It assumes a bit of familiarity on the part of the reader with Mayan civilization and ceramic art. I think you could still read it and get a lot out of it if you didn't have this background, but it would be a much harder slog. This book is for intermediate to advanced readers of Mayan civilization who have some background in Mayan ceramics. If you've read Dorie Reents-Budet's book *Painting the Maya Universe*, you're ready for this book. There are a number of references herein to various controversies currently raging in the area of Maya ceramic art that will not be of much interest to most people, and I skipped over these whenever I came to them. Overall, however, I was delighted with this book and thought it was a solid entry. I think *Painting the Maya Universe* was meatier, though, and thus I have given this book four stars.

This is not only a book to look at wonderful photos of Maya art. It is also a book where the author risks his opinions with a solid base of seeing and documenting. He is obviously astonished with the work of Mon Buluch Laj, as I am. Thanks to this book I understand better what Mon Buluch did and I have a much higher appreciation of his vase painting art. I might disagree with the lack of titles on the chapters but I admit that there are good reasons to preserve the images. I truly love the amount of detail this author provides on every vase. I should say I feel deeply grateful for this opportunity to understand better the amazing beuty of Maya Ik art.Highly recommended this book together with PAINTING THE MAYA uNIVERSE.

Maravilloso libro para los que disfrutan con la cerámica y epigrafía maya. Es de indicar que es un libro muy específico, solo analiza una docena de cerámicas de un determinado lugar y unas fechas concretas, pero dedica a ello 250 páginas. Para quien quiera adentrarse en estos temas son libros más recomendables por su contenido genérico: Painting the Maya Universe: Royal Ceramics of the Classic Period o The art of the maya scribe (ambos indiscutiblemente maravillosos). Otros como The maya scribe and his world, Old Gods and Young Heroes o Lords of the underworld son más una joya en tu biblioteca, que un libro de consulta actualizado. Y para quien no disfrute con un libro en la mano pues está la Justin Kerr Maya Base, o si puedes permitírtelo sus 6 tomos en versión impresa.