The smoothness and flow of the bowl is even more impressive considering that all Mayan ceramics were created without the aid of a potter’s wheel. The artist chose to embellish this vessel with decorative motif that is evocative and yet abstract. Every line and curve is essential to the pattern; nothing is redundant or superfluous. Maya art is a complex of symbols with profound important social functions. While the iconography of this bowl appears confusing and irrational to our eyes, clearly to the Mayans there was a greater symbolic interrelation between the motifs that they could easily appreciate. There is a definite power to this vessel that has slowly accumulated over the ages. Found in a tomb, buried along side a fallen ruler or dignitary, this vessel was as important in the afterlife as it was in this world.