The Star War Vase, K6340, is a cylindrical painted ceramic vessel from the Late Classic Period, currently in the collection of the Kislak Foundation. It features a very busy and very detailed scene that depicts a chapter of the Maize God’s mythic resurrection. Marc Zender’s 2020 article on the vessel goes into great detail, so, like with the Itzamnaaj Court Vase, this post will be more of a general overview.

In the center of the sky, directly above the Paddler’s canoe, the Jaguar War God and the Pax God can be seen together in what Zender identifies as an EK’ ‘star’ glyph (2020:61). These two characters frequently appear together, and this vase is no exception. They each appear with their usual traits. The Jaguar War God has the T-shaped tooth, large eye with curled pupil, jaguar ear, bundled hair, and in this depiction, he even appears with a jaguar paw as a hand. The Pax God has his two most significant traits, his jaguar paw ear and missing lower jaw, as well as a large eye with a curled pupil.

To the right of the Jaguar War God and Pax God is another deity. This one, who has the body of a bird, sits atop a tree and holds an antler and a turtle shell drum, although the repainting has made these objects hard to recognize (Zender 2020:59). Zender suggests that this character is the same as the one on K0731 who holds the same objects (2020:65). I offer the suggestion that this figure may be a rare example of the Bloody-Mouthed God. While he lacks the missing lower jaw, red paint is present around and below his mouth, likely indicating blood. As previously mentioned, this section of the vase has seen some repainting, so it is possible that some of the original details of the deity’s face have been altered. The Bloody-Mouthed God is also one of the few Maya deities who is sometimes depicted with the body of a bird, as seen here, although this is the non-glyphic depiction of him in this form that I am aware of.

In the top left of the scene, Chahk can be found, in a position to strike the temple he faces with his flint axe. While this depiction of Chahk is not as zoomorphic as others, he is still recognizable. What interests me about these characters positioned in the sky is their possible planetary correspondences. In past articles, I have discussed the possibility that some of the T-shaped tooth deities may correspond to planets. God I of the Palenque Triad and the Jaguar God of War may represent the morning and evening aspects of Venus, and the Bloody-Mouthed God and the Pax God may represent the morning and evening aspects of Mercury. These four characters, along with Chahk, are responsible for the rescue of the Maize God from a shark-like monster (K0595, K1391, K9152) (Crim 2025; 2026). As the scene on the Star War Vase seems to take place after this rescue event, it would appear that these figures have passed the Maize God on to the Paddlers, who now ferry him back to the world of the living, while they oversee from the sky. Out of these four, Venus and Mercury deities, only God I is absent. If he were, I would expect him to be where Chahk is, which leads to the idea that perhaps Chahk is doubling as both himself and God I in this scene, as they share several characteristics. Chahk’s presence alongside these other planetary deities might also suggest that he might have some planetary or stellar association as well, beyond just storms.

Within the temple that Chahk is positioned to destroy is a bundled version of the Pax God sitting within a monstrous jaw, possibly that of a shark, based on the T-shaped tooth below the eye. It is somewhat reminiscent of other scenes in which K’inich Ajaw or the Maize God emerges from similar monstrous jaws. Interestingly, this is the second appearance of the Pax God in this scene, as he also appears in the sky with the Jaguar War God.

A canoe can be seen in the middle of the depicted scene with six occupants. The Paddler Gods sit at either end, the Jaguar Paddler on the left and the Stingray Spine Paddler on the right. While the two Paddlers may seem nearly identical, they wear different headdresses. The Jaguar Paddler wears a jawless jaguar head, and the Stingray Spine Paddler wears a jawless shark head. Between them, from left to right, are Juun Ajaw, a spider monkey, the Maize God, and a dog. Unlike some of the previously discussed deities, Juun Ajaw and the Maize God have more human-like features, specifically their eyes. Juun Ajaw can be recognized by the black spots or pustules that mark his body, and the Maize God wears a headdress with the shark variant of the Jester God. The other occupants of the canoe are a spider monkey and a dog. This canoe, with the Paddlers, Maize God, and animals, is depicted on other objects as well, specifically a few bones from Tikal’s burial 116. In some of these depictions, the canoe has two other animal occupants, an iguana and a macaw.

What I find interesting, and I have not yet seen discussed, is that these four animals, the iguana, spider monkey, macaw, and dog, are always in that exact order from left to right, even if all four are not present. This specific order is almost certainly intentional, as the order even stays consistent when the canoe is facing the opposite direction. Why this specific order exists, and why it is these specific animals, is still unknown, but I suspect they may represent a set of constellations visible in the night sky.

Placed throughout the scene are several creatures (Figure 7). Two are fish, the larger of which is marked by a HA’ ‘water’ glyph on its back. This larger fish also has four feline-like animal heads emerging from its back. The third creature can be found at the very bottom of the scene, directly below the canoe. Marc Zender suggests that it is a supernatural turtle with crocodilian characteristics (2020:61); however, it also seems to have deer hooves, suggesting a connection to the so-called Starry Deer Crocodile.

Overall, the Star War Vase depicts a fascinating scene. The large cast of characters present allows the scene to act as a bridge between different episodes of myth, suggesting that the T-shaped tooth deities who previously rescued the Maize God from a shark-like monster have since passed him on to the Paddler Gods who ferry him back to the world of the living. The presence of the Pax God bundle, as Zender points out, also connects this scene to a group of others done in the codex-style (2020:63). While the repainting done to this vessel in modern times is unfortunate, enough of the iconography has survived for this scene to be reliable and incredibly important for studying this chapter of ancient Maya myth. Hopefully, more vessels depicting this scene will come to light in the near future.

Sources
Justin Kerr photograph collection, Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, DC.
Crim, Alexander
2025 The Vases of the Seven and Eleven Gods: A New Interpretation. IMS Explorer 53, no. 9 (2025): 1, 3–4.
2026 Shark Hunters of the Horizon: Venus, Mercury, and the Rescue of the Maize God. Aztlander 6, no. 1 (2026): 14-16.
Zender, Marc
2020 Disaster, Deluge, and Destruction on the Star War Vase. The Mayanist 2(1):57-76.