FORT WORTH, TX.- The Kimbell Art Museum announced today the acquisition of three highly important works of Maya art-an extremely rare Early Classic period (250-600 A.D.) royal jade belt ornament, decorated with the image of a ruler and a glyphic text inscription; and two Late Classic period (600-900 A.D.) vessels: a codex-style vessel with two scenes of the god Pawahtun instructing scribes, and a vessel with a mythological frieze depicting two renderings of the aged supreme deity of life and death, Itzamna. They will be on view immediately in the Museum's galleries. A special lecture by Yale University professor Dr. Michael Coe, the foremost authority on the ancient Maya, entitled “Maya Scribes on Maya Vases,” and featuring the new acquisitions, will take place on Friday, April 22, at 7 P.M. in the Kimbell's auditorium.

Dr. Timothy Potts, director of the Kimbell Art Museum, commented: “These three works represent a very major enhancement to our pre-Columbian collections. The royal jade belt ornament is one of the acknowledged masterpieces of Maya art and provides a spectacular new centerpiece for the collection. As the product of a royal workshop, worn as part of the official regalia of a Maya ruler, it brings us in direct contact with the sophisticated aesthetic culture of the ancient Maya court. The opportunity to acquire a work of this importance, in almost perfect condition, is an extremely rare occurrence these days. The codex-style scribe vase is likewise already a much-celebrated piece among scholars and connoisseurs of pre-Columbian art, both for its unique representation of a god teaching scribes how to draw, and for its extraordinary painterly skill. This is one of the most fluid and accomplished passages of painting in all of Maya art, and puts all but the finest Greek vase painting in the shade.”