Maya rulers and religious practitioners communed with the spirit world when they needed guidance and support. Shamans and rulers undertook vision quests to open the portal to the supernatural realm, mediate with the gods, and summon potent spirit forces. To aid their journeys, practitioners burned incense or ingested mind-altering substances. This vessel depicts a Maya ruler engaged in a vision quest. He sits in his lavish throne room, surrounded by attendants or visitors, and gazes into an obsidian divination mirror. The glyphs include personal names, possibly of those pictured in the scene or original owner of this object, and the symbol for "yellow cacao food".