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Courtly Art of the Ancient Maya

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Courtly Art of the Ancient Maya children’ s guide Courtly Art of the Ancient Maya national gallery of art, washington 4 april – 25 july 2004 · fine arts museums of san francisco, california palace of the legion of honor 4 september 2004 – 2 january 2005 Cancun Chichen Itza Mérida yucatan Jaina Island quintana roo campeche gulf of caribbean mexico sea mexico Calakmul Belize City Palenque belize Tikal Piedras Negras Tonina Yaxchilan gulf of chiapas Bonampak honduras guatemala honduras Copan Guatemala City el salvador pacific ocean Mesoamerica The Maya They were artists, mathematicians, and scribes, warriors, weavers, and astronomers. In the rainforests of Meso- america, they built the most sophisticated civilization the New World had ever seen. They developed a complex writing system, invented the idea of zero, and tracked the stars and planets more accurately than anyone else. Since European explorers first found the crumbling ruins of Maya cities in the sixteenth century, the Maya have slowly given up their secrets. In this exhibition you will discover the Maya, too. You’ll see works they made between about and , when their civilization was at its peak. Most of them come from the courts of Maya kings. By about , the 1 · Maya woman carry- greatness of Maya civilization had passed. Five hundred ing flowers through a market in Chichicasten- years later, more than half the population died of new ango, Guatemala diseases brought by Spanish conquerors. But the Maya people survived. Today some six million Maya live in Mexico and Central America—and probably a million more have settled in the United States. Maya culture is diverse and alive, rich with traditions from the past. Maybe you have Maya friends. room 1 2 Kings and Courts Ancient Maya society was organized into city-states ruled 4 by kings. Cities traded with one another and competed for precious goods like jade and the brilliant feathers of the ^ meet one of the most famous of all maya kings— quetzal bird. They made treaties—or war. Fortunes rose the great Pakal from Palenque. This portrait was found and fell, but no city ever controlled the whole Maya world. buried under his tomb. Pakal became king in when The largest cities had sixty thousand people or more and he was twelve years old and ruled until he died in — hundreds of buildings. Temples and palaces were painted a very long life in ancient times. He and his sons turned red and decorated with sculpture. Temple-pyramids rose Palenque into a splendid city. thirty stories high. The Maya ruler was at the center of the city’s political, 2 · Ruins of Maya economic, and religious life. His role on earth mirrored architecture at Palenque the role of the gods. He styled his appearance to match the 3 · Cylinder vase with lords and cloth, corn god and wore ornaments made of jade and quetzal (“Fenton Vase”), Nebaj, feathers. Green like the leaves of corn, they symbolized fer- Guatemala, 600–800, tility and wealth. When he donned ceremonial costumes ceramic, Courtesy of the Trustees of and the masks of gods, the king not only looked like those The British Museum gods—he became like them. 5 4 · Portrait head of Pakal, Palenque, Mexico, c. 650–683, stucco, Museo Nacional de Antropología–inah, México 5 · Mask, Calakmul, Campeche, Mexico, 600 – 800, jade with obsidian and shell, Museo Arqueológico de Campeche “Fuerte de San Miguel,”–inah, 3 México 6 7 8 9 The Maya court included many people beyond the royal 6 · Seated figurine of family: attendants to offer food and drink, servants with maya beauty a trumpet player, Jaina Island, Campeche, flysweeps and fans, singers, musicians, and entertainers. Have you noticed that Maya men Mexico, 600–900, There were also priests, diplomats, and warriors. Hunch- and women—and gods—have a ceramic, Sainsbury backs and dwarfs were trusted advisers. certain “look”? Their ideal of beauty Centre for Visual Arts, Robert and Lisa was modeled on the corn god— Sainsbury Collection, ^ these figurines were found in tombs. Some are youthful and fresh, strong. Long University of East Anglia whistles or rattles. Perhaps they were put in graves to heads and flowing hair mimic the 7 · Standing figurine in serve or entertain the person buried there, or maybe corn plant. Parents gave their chil- a blue coat, probably a messenger or emissary, they represent that person in life. dren’s heads this long tapering Jaina Island, Campeche, shape by pressing the skull Mexico, 600–900, Who’s who? See if you can identify: between boards for a few days just ceramic, Museo Nacional de Antro- • a diplomat or trader who traveled to distant cities under after birth. It only took a short pología–inah, México while because babies’ bones are hot sun or pelting rain 8 · Seated figurine on • a ruler in heavy padding, contemplating the battle ahead soft, but the effect lasted for life. It a throne, Jaina Island, didn’t affect intelligence. Campeche, Mexico, • a priest in feathered regalia 600–900, ceramic, The perfect Maya nose was • a trumpeter Princeton University large and sloped to the forehead; Art Museum, gift of people used inserts to get the right Gillett G. Griffin profile. Crossed eyes were also 9 · Standing figurine of a priest, Jaina Island, desirable. Maya parents probably Campeche, Mexico, trained their kids’ eyes to cross by 600–900, ceramic, < A mask like this was placed over hanging something in front of their The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Pakal’s face in his tomb. Jade was more noses! Teeth were filed down to Michael C. Rockefeller points or even T-shapes and some- Memorial Collection, precious to the Maya than gold. Bequest of Nelson A. times decorated with small inlays Rockefeller, 1979 of colored stones. room 2 The Gods and the Maya Chak Chel was the patron of women, 10 · Cylinder vessel 12 · Cylinder vessel with underworld scene with Itzamna, Moon a weaver (with cotton skeins tied in (“Vase of the Seven Goddess, and scribe, The Maya saw all things as intercon- her hair) but also a warrior. Her name Gods”), Naranjo region, detail, Mexico or nected. The past and present. The means “Great Rainbow,” but don’t Guatemala or Belize, Guatemala, 700–800, 755–784, ceramic, ceramic, Virginia earth, the sky, and the underworld. think that is a lucky omen—the Anonymous loan, Museum of Fine Arts, People, nature, and the gods. The Maya saw rainbows as dangerous signs courtesy of The Art Richmond. The Adolph from the underworld. Institute of Chicago D. and Wilkins C. Maya needed the gods, but the gods Williams Fund needed the Maya too. Every facet of 11 · Scepter of K’awiil, vase with provenance unknown, 13 · Maize God, Temple life—even a ball game—linked them. > 600–900, white stone, 22, Copan, Honduras, The Maya worshiped dozens of moon goddess probably albite, Prince- 680–750, volcanic tuff, gods. Many could appear old or young, Women also ton University Art Courtesy of the Trustees Museum. Museum pur- of The British Museum in human or animal form. Before we prayed to a chase, Fowler McCor- could read Maya writing we did not beautiful young mick, Class of 1921, Fund know their names; they were called moon goddess. God A, God B, and so on. Some are You’ll find her still known that way. As you go through sitting in the it’s amaizing! the exhibition, look for these gods: curve of a cres- In the United States we call it corn, cent moon, 12 but the rest of the world knows it < vase of 7 gods holding a rabbit. The Maya don’t as maize. For the Maya it was liter- Ruthless God L see a man in the moon—they see a ally the stuff of life—they believed was a prince of the rabbit. So do other people in Meso- the first people had been created underworld and america, Native Americans of the from corn. Corn needed humans as a god of commerce southwestern United States, and well—to tend it and plant it. Corn and trade. He’s the Chinese and Japanese. Next time cannot seed itself the way many prosperous and the moon is full, look again! other plants can. smokes a cigar. Corn was the Maya’s most Like Maya kings > maize god important food, and it’s still funda- he sits on a jaguar No god was more important mental to the diet of people in pelt. Look for the to the Maya than the maize Mesoamerica. Before being feathered headdress god, the god of corn. ground to a paste, the kernels where his messenger Always handsome and 10 are soaked to make them owl nests. young, he danced when the breeze rustled more nutritious, a process called (here is a word to > scepter his long leaves. Corn’s impress and “amaize” your K’awiil (God K) cycle of planting, friends) nixtimalization. was a god of growth, harvesting, The ancient people of lightning and and replanting is Mesoamerica learned had one snake the cycle of life this secret thousands foot. Because he itself—birth, of years ago. We also was a pro- 11 death, rebirth. know the Maya ate tector of royal tamales—sometimes with iguana family lines, he 13 meat!—and maybe tortillas too. often decorates kings’ scepters. the hero twins play ball Some myths have survived in the Popol Vuh, a text that recounts the Maya story of creation. It was translated into Spanish about 1700, but the stories it tells are much more ancient. The Hero Twins, Hunahpu and Xbalanque (pronounced “shaw 14 15 bal an kay”), were excellent ball- players.
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