Lady Xook holds a bowl in her left hand while she looks up towards the rising serpent. Such objects had and continue to hold great historical, aesthetic, and spiritual significance for Maya people and descendants. 1 : to expand something in detail would you care to elaborate on that statement. What an extraordinary title. Hes also quite interesting, in that he comes from that grand tradition of the English gentleman amateur, in that he had no training in archaeology, although he was trained in conservation. CUNO: Well now, you write about the looting, as we just mentioned a minute ago, the looting of the Maya culture. Structure 40 (above) sits in the South Acropolis, flanked by two other structures. Piedras Negras, where I excavated quite a bit in the nineties, is a good example of this, in which half the ceramics went to Philadelphia, to the University of Pennsylvania Museum; and the remainder stayed there in Guatemala City. And its almost impressive to me, in that its almost as though they protest too much, because this is within a couple of decades of the collapse of Maya civilization, and it could be this frenetic cultural activity has something to do, in fact, with a kind of Band-Aid or a way of disguising what could have been fracturing tensions within this kingdom. "His sculpture was erected, Mo Chaak, he of Hixil?". Such Maya rituals as bloodletting were only enacted on slaves. Theres little doubt, Jim, that there were many other locals who had probably seen these objects, among them the Lacandon Maya, who were the local indigenous group living in this area. Hooper 2006 A large and complete example of a type of carved panel (pare or korupe) fitted above the doorway of a chief's house, and later above the doorway of elaborately carved meeting houses (which began to be built around 1840). HOUSTON: This part of Guatemala, its highly broken in landscape. Working limestone or volcanic tuff with stone tools, sculptors showed realistic portraits of divine lords, courtly ladies, captives, and deities. Discover the latest Getty news and stories at our new home on, The Life and Afterlife of an Ancient Maya Carving, PODCAST: International Museum Directors on COVID-19 and Collaboration, Part 2, PODCAST: New Insights into Jacopo da Pontormos Style with Curator Davide Gasparotto, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Yaxchiln is located on the south bank of the Usumacinta River, in Chiapas, Mexico. Modeled and carved works of fired clay show the Maya virtuosity at creating realistic figurines and elaborate vessels and incense burners. The queen also wears an elaborate headdress. And he trekked to the site with locals. In the ninth and tenth centuries, monumental sculpture adorned palaces in Campeche and Yucatan, sometimes marking the buildings as animate mountains. And these were very much the center of the publication for the Getty. Thanks for listening. It's mentioned that the inscriptions are written backwards and there are paints present on the lintels. For the ancient Maya, jade objects embodied the color blue-green (the spectrum of blues and green was referred to as one word, yax, in the Classic Mayan language), which symbolized new growth, water, and primordial places and beings. JIM CUNO: Hello, Im Jim Cuno, president of the J. Paul Getty Trust. ", TAB-ya yu-xu-lu MO-CHAK-ki a-HIX?-la And Martin having been the cook on Jack Londons voyages. He clearly needed local help to get to this place where the lintels were found. The text on the left of the panel contains the name and titles of Lady K'ab'al Xook. Though of no great commercial importance in any part of the . In worldwide architecture of different eras and many cultures, a lintel has been an element of post and lintel construction. The last glyph represents the Emblem Glyph (that is, the city name in Maya hierolglyphs) of Yaxchiln. [6], Structural lintel over entrance, Treasury of Atreus, Mycenae, Greece, The lintel stone at the Treasury of Atreus (external view), The lintel stone at the Treasury of Atreus (internal view), Structural lintel over the entry to main Buddhist shrine, Phimai historical park, Thailand, Shebna Inscription on a lintel of a tomb cave near Jerusalem, 8th/7th century BCE, Structural lintel with a lauburu and founders' names, above traditional Basque houses in Lower Navarre, Spain. Or at least it was the claim of that dynasty. The reds we see on this are likely ferrous, and sometimes theyll glint with little inclusions. And this is a courtly society; its focused on ancient kings, their courtiers, their immediate families. In freestanding Indian building examples, the Hoysala architecture tradition between the 11th and 14th centuries produced many elaborately carved non-structural stone lintels in the Southern Deccan Plateau region of southern India. There were some yellows, as well, that are probably made out of some other kind of mineral. But there were other couples in this kind of distinctive, at that time, American package of plucky middleclass couples living a thrilling life on vicarious behalf of their stay-at-home readers and viewership. What material was used to make the Olmec colossal heads? And so by walking around it, youre, in some ways, participating in whatever kinetic activity that involved. Review the vocabulary list for "Uncle Marcos". The ruler was believed to be a descendent of the gods, and the act of bloodletting was of critical importance in maintaining their power and order in the community. Department of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Lady Xoc is one of the most prominent and probably politically powerful women in the Maya civilization. The site is host to an impressive number of structures and monumentsover 100and is especially famous for its high-quality relief carvings. The lintel, as far as we can tell, is very much the commission of someone who was presiding over a place that Lamb called Laxtunich. Often wooden sculptures are only recognized through the traces of a thin shell of stucco that once covered them before the wood rotted away. Yaxchilan was, as the Laxtunich lintel tells us, in a way both figuratively and literally, the sun for the local political system. HOUSTON: The stone itself is a depiction of four figures, and probably a mythological being, as well. Lady Xocs burial is known as Tomb 3. James Doyle CUNO: This episode was produced by Zoe Goldman and Karen Fritsche, with audio production by Gideon Brower and mixing by Myke Dodge Weiskopf. Recent excavations have unearthed what is thought to be the tombs of Itzamnaaj Bahlam and Lady Xoc within Structure 23. holajun mak u baah ti chabil ti kakal jul u chab chan winikhaab ajaw Itz[amnaaj] Bahlam u chan Aj Nik kuhul Pachan ajaw It really begins to take off in about AD 100 or so. Ancient Maya Sculpture. InHeilbrunn Timeline of Art History. So what were doing in the Getty book is we are probing what were calling the afterlife of these carvings, as well, after theyre removed from this home. In The Armada Portrait, it is suggested that Queen Elizabeth is: Jean-Antoine Houdon's sculpture of George Washington was made from: Napoleon Crossing the Alps depicts the moment before Emperor Napoleon was to meet the. The headdress also contains knotted cloth and vegetal elements, as well as shorter, spotted feathers. And thats when we start seeing very large cities, in fact, of a scale, of a magnitude that really is seldom documented even anywhere else in the world. And because of documents that Lamb left behind, we have a great deal of information about what Lamb did when he got to this place. It makes them tremendously exciting to study. ti ho (?) And Ive sometimes wondered if that had to do with an attempt to heighten their claim to authenticity. In other words, the earlier periods, paradoxically, are much, much better understood. a bloodletting ritual Such Maya rituals as bloodletting were only enacted on slaves. It suggests that everything is with respect to the Classic period. The image and the inscription both reinforce the reign of the ruler and his dynastic ties, in this case via his wife. Not necessarily of royal commissions, but ones that are undertaken by local nobility. Its very, very fine. He commissioned some of the most famous sculptural works at the site. London: Thames & Hudson, 2014. They obviously, from an abundance of evidence, injected a certain life and vitality into their carving. And that is to find out more about the carvingwho made it and why, what it might communicate more broadly about the Maya and ancient imagery more generally. Structure 33, Yaxchiln (Maya) (photo: Graham Duggan, CC BY-ND 2.0). Non-structural Mayan ornamental lintel stone, from the Yaxchilan city site in Chiapas, southern Mexico. Lintel 25 (below)from the central doorwayalso focuses on a bloodletting ritual carried out by Lady Xook. This site is using cookies under cookie policy . Is it just the appearance, that it seemed to be so much similar one to another? Direct link to toxicfoltgms's post what is a vent guys idk i, Posted 8 years ago. Now, the sculptures from all of these communities, these smaller places like El Tunel or Laxtunich, tend to be fairly emphatic in emphasizing that almost suffocating centralized control that emanates from Yaxchilan. Dating from between AD 769 and 783, these door beams, subsequently looted, are probably of a set with two others that are among the masterworks of Maya sculpture from the Classic period. What event is portrayed in the elaborately carved lintel showing the Maya ruler Shield Jaguar and his wife Lady XOOK? Theyre almost communicating the idea that the writing is bejeweled in some ways. And you say that it thrives in conditions of relative stability. Lintel 24 is the designation given by modern archaeologists to an ancient Maya limestone sculpture from Yaxchilan, in modern Chiapas, Mexico. Tikal has 1, Palenque has 5 doorways? (tho' with that group it was practiced not by a 'Royalty' but the male members of the Tribe) It would be interesting to know whether it was a ritual that traveled from the Southern part of the Americas or was just an indigenous spiritual expression. Lady K'abal Xook pullinga thorned rope through her tongue (detail). There they encountered a rich cache of decorated structures made in the first millennium CE, including a particularly elaborate limestone lintel (a horizontal support above a doorway) carved by an artisan named Mayuy. And ultimately, should it be feasible, I think theres an interest, potentially, in repatriation by some process, legal or otherwise. And its already putting you in a kind of subordinate or supplicative position, in which youre in some discomfort trying to access them. What do you think of this interpretation of war? And this is something weve known about for some time, but its only recently being documented to a fuller extent. In the bowl are pieces of paper stained with her blood. The master was an established craftsman of recognized abilities who took on apprentices; these were boys in late childhood or adolescence who boarded with the master's family and were trained by him in the elements of his trade.. How do you become a master tradesman? And then the final touch, which really, really caused us great joy when we figured this out, is that the two underlings are literally also lifting the lintel itself. 2574-2134 BC). And the carver that the local lord employed to create this piece, a person whose name we know, Mayuy, was almost certainly from an antagonistic dynasty to the north, a place called Piedras Negras, which is quite renowned in the history of Maya culture and civilization. The building itself is narrow, only one vault deep, so it was not intended to hold many people. The carvings, however, are of a different sort. And it tends to vary enormously in quality. And then finally, its a time in which we have really pretty strong evidence for a kind of hegemonic empire that is centered on one important kingdom in particular, Calakmul. The use of the lintel form as a decorative building element over portals, with no structural function, has been employed in the architectural traditions and styles of most cultures over the centuries. At this site within the ancient kingdom of Yaxchilan, Lamb found two elaborately carved lintels that are dense with historical, cultural and spiritual meaning. A lintel or lintol is a type of beam that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. So at the moment, I have documented at least about 130 named carvers. Very different, especially in the case of carvings and painted pots. Direct link to Jin Park's post It's mentioned that the i, Posted 4 years ago. Why does he feature so much in your book? And in addition to that, we are laying out the kind of cultural parameters for what will become Classic Maya civilization, which is the period I study. It is often found . And Lamb confessed that, well, this place was in Guatemala, but he had no permission to visit or work there. Draw two lines under each verb or verb phrase. This buildings construction is therefore important, and so too are the individuals it showcases. And thats what makes them really exciting to us, as well. What event is portrayed in the elaborately carved lintel showing the Maya ruler Shield Jaguar and his wife Lady Xoc (4.6.6)? (5 Eb, 15 Mak in the maya calendar). And what they also tell us is that this sculptor introduced idiosyncratic, brilliant effects, and that he asserted his identity in ways that were not otherwise known in the corpus of Maya carvings. What event is portrayed in the elaborately carved lintel showing the Maya ruler Shield Jaguar and. And a good place for that wouldve been the Chiapas rainforest of Mexico, on the border between Guatemala and Mexico. Since the rest of the costume is depicted without much abstraction, it is suggested that Maya kings may have literally attached a shrunken head to their head band as a representation of power. Direct link to coty.comeaux22's post what is the creature in t, Wow that looks painful! HOUSTON: There are many, many different Mayan groups, thirty different languages or more, with varied histories. Elaborately carved gate lintel Contributor Names American Colony (Jerusalem). It is odd that the men didn't have to "pull a thorned rope" through. And that is where a lot of these lintels come from, are these small communities that were under the thumb of Yaxchilan. Could these lintels have been used as lithographs? That is, the reception is, in itself, a fascinating part of the process of their emplacement on this landscape. Is elaborate the same as explain? And you write that they have an unstable relationship to time. A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. Shield Jaguar IIs commissions at Yaxchilns central complex of buildings (called the Central Acropolis) include, Some of the most famous lintels are those on Structure 23a yotoot (palace building) showing Shield Jaguar IIs wife, Lady Kabal Xook. Look closely at the detail below. Sculpture for the ancient Maya spans all media, from the miniature to the monumental, as artists gave shape to materials extracted from the landscape. Structure 21, commissioned by Bird Jaguar IV, housed lintels 15, 16 and 17. Ceremonial blades made of flint (1978.412.195) or chert served as royal scepters. Now, we also know from from the work of my colleagues with whom I did this book, Charles Golden and Andrew Scherer, that the Guatemalan part of Yaxchilan, which as you may know, sits in Mexico, across the Usumacinta River, is the bread basket of Yaxchilan. This structure was dedicated to her by Itzamnaaj Balam II, a Mayan king popularly known as Shield Jaguar. It is remembered today primarily for its Hindu temples' mandapa, lintels, and other architectural elements, such as at the Chennakesava Temple. They allowed him, I think, to survive. Among the finest Mayan carving to be excavated are three temple door lintels that feature narrative scenes of a queen celebrating the king's anointing by a god. Direct link to Sophia McManus's post In the section Lintels 2, Posted 5 years ago. And it remained, until recently, I think, one of the great mysteries of Maya imagery, as to where these objects, which had fascinated so many scholars, mightve come from. A miraculously preserved kneeling dwarf (1979.206.1063) would likely have held a plaque covered in tiles of obsidian or pyrite that reflected light upon the ruler gazing at it. 2 : to become elaborate (see elaborate entry 1) transitive verb. 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