The interpretation of art highly depends on context. This figurine from the late Classical Maya world (600-900CE), for instance, might appear to modern viewers as a seated woman with a pained expression: indeed, the figure has a hunched back. The statue might even evoke pity in us — but these impressions and sentiments were probably not what the artist born in Mesoamerica over 1,000 years ago intended to evoke. First, the being is a man – the things that look like breasts are really balls joined by a cord. He also wears a turban- both necklace and headgear indicate his noble status. Instead of an expression wrought with suffering, his face matches other artistic depictions that show old age, and thus wisdom. Finally, we know from ancient Maya religion that the corn god frequently appears accompanied by a dwarf and a person with a hunchback: the best guess as to the meaning of this is that these sidekicks represented the “flawed” ears of corn growing alongside the upright and tall crop. This threesome – the God and the other two with disabilities – was mimicked by Maya kings, who kept dwarfs and hunchbacked people as courtiers in mimicry of their mythology.
Source(s): From _Courtly Art of the Ancient Maya_, 2004, Thames and Hudson, by Mary Miller and Simon Martin (from an exhibit curated by Kathleen Berrin).
