Art of Maya Civil Iz 00 Mart

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F 1435.3.A7M37Art o( the Maya civilization :

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HJinfERSITY OF CONNECTICUT UBRAftY. STORRg

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Digitized by the Internet Archivein 2011 with funding from

LYRASIS members and Sloan Foundation


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Art of the cmlization

ExhibitmiSepte7?iber ^ to October j, 19^1at the

Mart'm Widdifield Gallery^'^'818 Madison AvenueNeiv York

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PriestJairiiiTr headdress

painted clayof JaiiM,

Mexico6 'A tall

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ForewordOf all the civilizations in the ancient New World that of the A-Iayahas received most attention and is thus most widely known. Thisinterest has been generated chiefly by extensive investigations oftheir magnificent ceremonial sites that are unequaled in theWestern hemisphere. One wanders through these ruins as througha museum, experiencing fresh aesthetic thrills at every turn asthe eve feasts upon sculptural renderings of unequaled varietyand vitality.The Mayas during their golden age that approximates the first1,000 years A.D. were the masters of ancient American art. Thismaster\' is evident in their jade work, stone and clay sculpture,fresco wall painting, and in the design and decoration of religiouscenters. An indication of superb textile and feather work can beseen by examining the vestments adorning the clay ceremonialburial figurines and by referring to illustrations of the frescos.Actual objects of art such as polychrome pottery, stone sculpture,and clay figures from the i\4aya area are exceedingly rareand coveted.In spite of the large area of production and lengthy time span ofoccupation, relatively few significant burial grounds which yieldsuch material have been found. One of prime importance is thaton the Island of Jaina off the coast of Campeche in the gulf ofMexico. Most of the exhibition objects come from this region.It has been suggested that this island served as a royal cemeteryfor a large mainland area and it should be noted that throughoutthe Americas only graves of important personages yield objectsof high artistic merit. Jaina is famous for its polychrome potteryand exquisite miniature terracotta figurines, many of whichfunction as rattles or whistles. These figures include a diversity ofsubject matter: birds, animals, rulers, priests, priestesses, warriors,royal attendants, god-like representations, and even attitudesillustrating menial daih labors. All of this was to provide for thenecessities of the deceased in kind or spirit in afterlife.The present exhibition features one of the largest collections ofthese pieces in existence, together with a selection of stonecarvings and ceramics from the general Maya area.

ALFRED EARL STENDAHL


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Introduction vERBERT JOSEPH SPINDEN

I. Formative: 752 B.C.-60 A.D.Twilight observatimi cmthe eclipticinve^itimi of writingand counting.

II. First Empire: 60-629 A.D.Theocrats in city stateswho are deified at death-astronomical controls.

III. Revolution againstTheocracy: 629-708A.D.

Abando7mie7it of the greatcities in civil wars.

IV. Maya Renaissance: 708-960 A.D.Partial reocaipations underdemocratic govemn?ent;retaining important featuresof the old civilization hawith mw forms in architectureand sculptural artin central Yucatan.

V. Second Empire: 960-1 191 A.D.Chichen Itza foundedjinder native lords afterabandomuent of central Yzt^atanUxmal and other cities founded.

VI. The League of Mayapan: 1191-1417 A.D.Refuge city for the Maya.Toltec dynasties survivedin Yucatan afterdownfall on the highlands.

VII. Decadence and Conquest: 1460-1541 A.D.League of Mayapan dissolved;Mayas seek old home inChichen Itza etc.; Spanish conquestbegins i;2f, ends withthe fou7jding of Merida in ij-t'

Companionship with the past, with farplaces and outlandish peoples is best ac-complished through the representativefine arts. Music and dancing, under folkconditions, do not come to us naively assound or motion. Take the Ode to aGrecian Urn by John Keats. Inspired byscenes on Attic pottery, it recreates expe-rience. Heard melodies are sweet, hesays, But those unheard are sweeter.Now, the Maya have been called theGreeks of the New World. The compari-son holds as regards cultural quality onseveral social levels. Also the Toltecs, whoconquered the Maya, safely may be com-pared to the Romans who enslaved theGreeks after taking over much of theircivilization. Keats closed his poem on theGrecian Urn with a summation which initself is an induction pure and simple.Beauty is truth, truth beauty, that is allye know on earth and all ye need toknow.That goes far beyond Plato whose artwas simply measurement. Today it is eas-ily demonstrated that both nature and manrepeatedly seek the convergence of useand beautythe practical and the esthetic,that is to achieve through stream-liningthe highest utility and the greatest beauty.

In 1 839 and 1841 John Lloyd Stephensand Frederick Catherwood brought vivid-


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ly before the world the great civiHzationof the .Maya in Central America, a civiliza-tion of stone built cities of exact scienceand creative economics. In words and pic-tures they restored a social illusion des-tined to enrich mankind.We are not warranted, wrote Ste-

phens, In going back to any ancient na-tion of the Old World for the builders ofthese cities : rhev are not the work of thepeople who have passed away and whosehistory is lost, but . . . are the creations ofthe same races who inhabited the countryat the time of the Spanish conquest orsome not very distant progenitors.

I cannot omit entirely the long con-tinuity of dates properly historical nor theextension of this into past and future time.Astronomical chronology is a major sub-ject of Alaya art. Three total eclipses, twoof the sun, with central tracks across Mayaterritory lead to a total lunar eclipse, all in872 days. These are: Nov. 10, 752 B.C.;May 6, 751 B.C.; and April i, 749 B.C.This alignment of phenomena on theecliptic inaugurates the famous Tzolkin,in which 1 3 numbers combine with 20names in a permutation.

The next station of a throughway cen-ters on a mass conjunction of five planetson Dec. 11, 580 B.C. and the organizationof interrelated calendars. A solar year

starts at the winter solstice and an agri-cultural year starts in the spring 140 dayslater and concerns Venus.

It is not until October 14, 58 A.D. thatan integration is produced on three sortsof years counting back 3430 tropical yearsfrom Oct. 14, 58 A.D. to Oct. 14, 3373B.C., (the point of time called Maya zero)this was done by sighting forward and inreverse to get four stations in the yearcombining April 13, and Sept. 6 in theWest and March 7 and Oct. 14, in the East.This reciprocal alignment works magicin the exact correlation of all sorts of as-tronomical periods.

An important simplification took placeon February 11, 176 A.D. not immediate-ly effective, however. On September 2,502 A.D. an astronomical congress washeld at Copan. After this Sun worshippersand Venus worshippers drew apart. Actu-ally science was clarified in a povertystricken Maya Renaissance which ulti-mately produced new architecture ofmagnificent quality. A new abandonmentof cities was caused by arrival from the farnorth of the Uto -Aztec hordes, the Ol-mecs about 950 A.D., the Toltecs about1090 A.D. and the Aztecs in 1324 A.D.Maya civilization ultimately transformedthem all. The last fine work of art of theMaya, established briefly in Chichen Itza,


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is dated February 17, 141 7 A.D. The re-cent discovery that the buried temple atHolmul was the tomb of Huetzin Tepeul,father of Quetzalcoatl by a noble Mayawoman, clears much confusion in newworld history.

Dated stones and monuments of rulersor deities do not appear until 68 A.D.when the First Empire began. These mon-uments to theocrats have wonderful calli-graphic inscriptions and portrait realismhonoring dead rulers transformed intogods. The downfall of the great Theoc-racy came in 629 A.D. The great citieswere abandoned until 708 A.D. when theMaya Renaissance got under way withwooden houses later copied in stone andmortar. Temple building is revived but lessmassive with towers that are compressedpyramids. The artists became less con-cerned with theocrats and more con-cerned with the personalities of everydaymen and women of the Alaya scene. Theseare handled in a cult of figurines.

The prototype of the Maya mold-made figurine may be the bulbous whistle.Necessarily hollow, this little object lendsitself to plastic decoration with a humanor animal body on the molded front. Theback, added separately to preserve thecavity, has a mouthpiece and several fingerholes which likewise are vents required

during firing. From first to last many fig-urines are whistles or rattles for funeralmusic. Ultimately some were modeled asportraits of the dead person. On an en-graved peccary skull, found in Tomb i atCopan, Honduras, and dated 322 x^.D. wesee, among various animal subjects. Deathcarrying a mummy bundle and blowing awhistle with three holes.

Realistic figurines, exquisitely modeledand molded in clay by ancient .Vlaya art-ists of the .Mexican State of Campeche, arerecords of the habits and appearances ofordinary individuals for the most part. Itseems these portrait figurines belong to acult of continued spiritual existence for allmen and women which replaced, or sup-plemented, an earlier Maya religion inwhich rulers became gods. The earliestcenters of figurine manufacture were Pie-dras Negras and Palenque, whence thecraft moved south to the highland plateauabove the Usumacinta valley and northinto western parts of the peninsula ofYucatan. Portrait figures did not take holdin other im.portant First Empire cities,such as Copan, Uaxactun, and Tikal. Thefine specimens found on the Guatemalanhighlands and in Campeche must be datedwell subsequent to the First Empire al-though carrying ideas then developed.

The beautiful figurines of Campeche


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were not made to buy and sell as artisticbric-a-brac: they were not meant to serveas puerile dolls and playthings ; they werenot intended to be kept in closets or placedon altars as family mementos. Instead,they were either manufactured hastily fora dead person to clutch against his breastin common flexed burial or they weremade with more leisure and care to beplaced with bones or ashes in urns, alongwith sacred jewels, whistles, rattles, knivesand needles.They are beautiful even when the sub-

ject is homely, because emotion guidedthe hand of the artist. They are tokens ofpersonality intended, let us say, as identi-fying pictures on a passport to eternity.This motive, in one form or another, iswell nigh universal since purposeful bur-ial became a human practice. Spiritualcounterparts of dead men and womencontinued to exist so primitive manthought and still thinks demanding serv-ice and giving service. Souls dissolved intovague magical influences when disembod-ied, or thev freely entered into and in-habited plants, animals, rocks, streams,clouds, and stars, till all nature becamesensitive and animate.

It is a mistake to think that only thegrandiose and overwhelming aspects ofany artistic civilization are worthy of ad-

miration. I like figurines because they havepersonality and cultural warmth. Theyare often beautiful but without pretentionbecause character conquers physiognomy.

HERBERT JOSEPH SPINDEN, explorer,anthropologist, teacher and iiriter, has had a pro-found mjbience in shaping a gejieration's under-standing oj Amerindian cidtttres. The GrandOld Man oj Ajuerican anthropology, he hasdevoted a lijetiinc to exploring the fabulous her-itage of pre-Columbian civilizations on theAnrericmi Continetit.

As airator of Amei-ican hidian Art a)idPrijnitive Culture at the Brooklyn Miiseimi, Dr.Spinden has introduced cmmtless imisemii-goa'sto the fascinations of the American past.Through his absorbing interest in .Maya mjdAztec art acquired in explorations in search ofruined cities iji the Central Amaican junglehesolved the chronology of .Maya inscriptions, theircivil calendar and the Venus calendar. In books,magazines and numerous papei's, he has rangedover the entire field of American anthropology,from the Mandan Indians to the Toltecs.

Before joining the Brooklyn .Museinn, Dr.Spinden ivas assistant airator of the AnwicaiiMuseum of Nattiral History and curator of thePeabody iMuseimi and the Buffalo .Museim? ofArts and Sciences. He is a past presidmt of theExplorers Club and the Amoican Antlyropologi-cal Association, and is a Felloiv of the RoyalGeographical Society.


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Seated cosnmied Rulermi tlyrone-like platformwith bowl at feetPalmed clayIsland of Jalna,Cainpecbe, Atexico to tall


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Seated PriestessHollow paintedclay whistleIsland of Jaina,Campeche, Mexico() tall

Seated Figurewith shell pendantand facial tattooPainted clay whistleIsland of Jaina,Can/pcche, Mexico 7 ' i tall

Standing ManHollow paintedclay whistleIsland of Jaina,Canrpeche, Mexico-I 'V tall


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Seined Figure Seated ]Voman Seated Priest with headdressHoHcTd: painted Hollow painted and facial tattooclay whistle clay whistle Hollow pairrted\clay whistleIsland of Jaiim, Island of Jaina, Island of Jaina,Caiiipeche, Mexico Campecbe, Mexico Canipeche, Mexico7 % tall S tall j tall


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Seated Figure hi lohi clothHollow paintedclay whistleIsland of Jaina.Campeche, Mexico7 tall

Seated Man, with facial tattooHollow paintedclay whistleIstmjd of Jaina,Campeche, Mexico8 tall

Seated Mai?Hollow claywhistleIsland of Jaiiia,Campeche, Mexico7% tall

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Seated PriestessHollow paintedclay whistleIsland of Jaina,Caii/pcche, Mexico7 '/: tall

Staiidivg MY)7 aiiHollow paintedclay whistleIsland of Jaina,Caiupeche, Mexicoi tall

Staiyding Wo7nanSolidpainted clayIsland of Jaim,Ca7npeche, Mexico6 'A tall


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Stimding FigureHollow clayrattleIsland of ]ahm,Cmnpeche, MexicoI 'A tall

Sealed Rider oil Thronewith glyph panelsPainted clayIsland of faiva,Cmijpeche, Mexico(/A tall

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Carved day bowlwith Cereinonial seemsin two pamlsFrom State ofChiapas6 'A tall4^1, diameter

Clay flaskwith relief of Seated Priest ^if] feathei-ed headdressYucatan, Mexico5 tall


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made in moldtwo halves

in ceremmiial attireVeracruz styleto Mayan

Central VeracruzVi tall 6 % dimneter

clay platepriest

of Campeche,

diameter


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day platein bird costtnne

glyph rimof Jai?ia,

Mexicoi^Vi diameter

Carved clay gobletCo^iventimwlized designsIsland of Jaiim,Campeche, Mexico7 tall4 diameter

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Seated Rider cm throneFainted clayIslcmd of Jaina,Cmnpeche, Mexico8% taU

Staitding figurewearing yokeHollow clay whistleIsland of ]aiiM,Campeche, Mexico6 tall

Standing priestin elabm-ate cosruweHollow paintedclay whistle

Standing figureHollow clay rattleIsland of Jaina,Campeche, Mexico


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Standing figurewith bird headdressHollow painted dayIsland of ]aina,Campeche, MexicofA tall

Standing wcmwnwith flower headdressHollow pairttedday rattkIsloJtd of Jain-a,

Standing Figurewith snake headdressHollow painted day whistleIsland of Jaina,Cainpeche, Mexico6 tall

Standing Mother and Childwith bowl mi headHollow painted clay rattleIsland of Jairm,Ccntipeche, Mexico


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Torso of Dollwith places formoveable arms and legsHollow clayIslmid of Jaina,Ca7? peche, Mexico 7 'A tall

Ruler seatedon canopied daisFainted clayIsland of Jaina,Campeche, Mexico1 1 '/> tall

Ruler seated mi thrmiePainted clayIsland of Jaiiia,

Standing womanholding incense bagHollow painted clay rattle


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Head and torsowith glyphsLi?nestoneCampeche, Mexico24 tall

Turtle with human headin mouthLimestoneYiicatatz, MexicoS 14 tall1 1 'A Ions:


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Tei/ipk (rrnmnenttlyree alligator-like aniinalsLimestmieCcniipecbe, Mexicolo'A tall 2p lo?7g

Head of ChaaiioolLimestoneYucatan, Mexico1 tall

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Teiiiple decoratimiprobably Tlaloc(Rain God) represmtationLiviesto^ieCampecbe, Mexico20 Vi tall

Teviple decorationtwo glyphsLiviestOTJie1 1 tall 24 IcngCa^npeche, Mexico


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MaiisterHollow paintedday whistleIsland of Jaiim,Caiiipeche, Mexico5 tall

Seated figurein aniiiial costumeHollow paintedclay whistleIsland 0/ jaina,

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Reclining dogHollow paintedclay whistleIsland of Jaina,Cainpeche, Mexico4 'AA tall

AnimalHollow paintedclay whistleIsland of Jaina,Caiiipcche, Mexico


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University ofConnecticutLibraries


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Art of Maya Civil Iz 00 Mart

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