Mayan Art

Classic Maya

• 200-900 CE

• viewed as when Maya civilisation flourished most

  • monumental architecture and inscriptions most elaborate

• political landscape: relatively small competing city states

• focusing on the Southern Lowlands

• never a unified political entity

Glyphs

• 1500s Friar Diego de Landa and 1950s Russian scholar Yuri Knorosov

  • over 90% of Maya glyphs deciphered

  • largely syllabic, also logograms and phonetic qualifiers

• earlier Anglophone scholars viewed Maya as peaceful priests and astronomers

• deciphering of glyphs changed this radically

  • complex political landscape of shifting conflicts and alliances

Palenque, Mexico

• Temple of Inscription, Tomb of Lord Pakal

  • aided in reconstructing dynastic connections

  • 9 steps -> 9 levels of the underworld 

  • lid of sarcophagus -> rich iconography

  • Pakal being consumed by jaws

• Tomb of the ‘Red Queen’

Copan, Honduras

• Founded 426 CE

• Great Ball court

• Hieroglyphic Stairway

  • possible to reconstruct entire dynastic succession

  • over 2200 characters long, shows each ruler

  • 18 Rabbit, 13th ruler of Copan

    • constructed 7 stelae dedicated to himself with intricate artwork

    • captured in 738 CE under enigmatic circumstances by smaller vassal state Quirigua, beheaded

      several stelae remain in Quirigua

Tikal, Guatemala

• located in Peten region

• stelae and altars

  • often inscribed with hieroglyphic text

  • Temple 33, Stela 31

    • depicts rulers, 3 kings mentioned

      Jaguar Paw, Curl Snout, Stormy Sky

    • shows arrival of foreign military figure ‘Fire is Born’, Jaguar Paw ‘dies’. establishment of Curl Snout, father of Stormy Sky

    • Curl Snout possibly from Teotihuacan?

    • story told in glyphs

Bonampale, Mexico

• some well-preserved paintings on walls

  • preserved by limescale

  • depicts warfare

Yaxchilan

• across from Bonampale

• lintels carved with elaborate imagery

  • elaborate stories, closely guarded

  • hard to see, read even if you could

    • part of larger political ritual?

Polychrome Ceramics

• often depicted historical events

• more likely to have artist signatures