# Chak Ak’ Paat Kuy ("Red Turkey") Playing the Ballgame

- By: Maya (Probably La Corona (Saknikte’), Usumacinta River area, Guatemala)
- Date: 650-700
- Medium: Limestone
- Classification: Sculpture
- Dimensions: 43.2 × 25.1 cm (17 × 9 15/16 in.)
- Culture: Guatemala
- Credit line: Ada Turnbull Hertle Fund
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/110246)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/21fb136f-402e-1116-4e43-40ac73d3b2e8/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

In Central America, the best-known sculptors are the Maya, who decorated their temples and sacred precincts with finely carved stone reliefs representing powerful dynastic rulers involved in various secular and religious activities. This fragmentary ball-court panel from the late eighth century shows two men, dressed in elaborate costumes, engaged in a ritual ball game. Surrounding the figures, and clearly set off from them, are fragments of hieroglyphs by which the Maya identified the players and the date on which the game occurred.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0