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Mayan Art Megathread

Discussion in 'General Chat' started by Warden, Jul 15, 2016.

  1. Jorgik
    Carnasaur

    Jorgik Well-Known Member

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    Kind of like the pyramid more with the vegetation growing on it! :p
     
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  2. Warden
    Slann

    Warden Tenth Spawning

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    Agreed, it does make it look more mysterious... :blackalien:

    I always have a hard time remembering that back when most of these temples were created, they were actually painted bright red!
     
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  3. Warden
    Slann

    Warden Tenth Spawning

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    Some cool glyphs and art courtesy of JesmondCat over at deviantart.

    This one is another "full glyph" showing the entire spelling/art of the Yaxchillan king "Bird Jaguar," also one of my named Lizardmen heroes Yaxum Balum!
    mayan_hieroglyph__bird_jaguar_iii_by_jesmondcat-d5tp9f3.jpg

    "Playing the Drums" Glyph
    mayan_glyph__dog_playing_drum_by_jesmondcat-d5prs7s.jpg

    Merchant God/Mad King making Fire
    mayan_glyph__merchant_god_making_fire_by_jesmondcat-d5qnhem.jpg

    Turkey and Vulture
    mayan_glyph__turkey_and_king_vulture_by_jesmondcat-d5qni0c.jpg
     
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  4. Jorgik
    Carnasaur

    Jorgik Well-Known Member

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    Really?!?! I wonder how red temples would look like on the table :artist:
     
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  5. Warden
    Slann

    Warden Tenth Spawning

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    Tis true! The overwhelming majority of the paint has worn away, leaving just the stone left. Its similar in concept to the bleached-white Roman and Greek ruins of the Meditteranean; at one point those buildings were all painted bright colors, mostly reds, yellows, and blues!!

    More pictures today: concerning Chac Tok Ich'aak I, the Mayan king of Tikal deposed by Siyaj K'ak (general of Teotihuacan)

    Name glyph:
    Chak_Tok_Ich%27aak_I.png

    Beautiful stela 26 from Tikal, concerning aforementioned king and what I believe is his ascension to the throne record? Not sure exactly, but what is left is stunning.
    Tikal_St26.jpg
     
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  6. Warden
    Slann

    Warden Tenth Spawning

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    Temple of Inscriptions, mural in color! Some fan artwork from a site I cant remember, wonder how it looked in real life!

    palenque in color.png
     
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  7. Warden
    Slann

    Warden Tenth Spawning

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    Some more sculptures and faces from Copan

    faces_copan1.jpg

    copan_macaw2.jpg

    459853-Stone-Head-at-Copan-0.jpg

    faces_copan2.jpg
     
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  8. Warden
    Slann

    Warden Tenth Spawning

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    Also from Copan, a lizard! :D (Probably supposed to be a crocodile though...)

    gator.jpg

    faces_copan3.jpg
     
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  9. Bowser
    Slann

    Bowser Third Spawning

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    That tirtle head and this other lizard head are amazing! That turtle head is particularly impressive.
     
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  10. Warden
    Slann

    Warden Tenth Spawning

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    Copan- Howler Monkey God

    - Normally Monkeys were considered the patron of the arts and scribes. Not sure why this dude has a snake coming out of his mouth though... creepy sculpture.

    howler monkey god with snake.jpg
    howler monkey god with snake 2.jpg

    statue at varying stages of being rebuilt
    Copan_sculpture.jpg

    535823423.jpg

    Also an awesome comparison between Mayan and Balinese monkey-god sculptures!
    Balinese-Mayan-Gods-Howler-Monkey-God-Mayan.jpg
     
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  11. Warden
    Slann

    Warden Tenth Spawning

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    Monkey-scribe, this one from a bowl.

    monkey scribe.jpg
     
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  12. Warden
    Slann

    Warden Tenth Spawning

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    Not Mayan, but too interesting to pass up.

    Zapotec snake-idols, carved out of stone. Most of them have a very characteristic snake-tongue and an elaborate headdress, almost Mayan-looking in appearance.

    IMG_7433.JPG
    IMG_7434.JPG

    IMG_7819.JPG
     
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  13. Warden
    Slann

    Warden Tenth Spawning

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    Yaxchillan Lintels

    Time for some more research! Some of my favorite examples of Mayan art are the beautiful series of carved stone lintels decorating the site at Yaxchillan. Situated on a bend on the Usumacinta river, the ruins are situated on a hill, and are some of the best preserved examples of Mayan carvings throughout the entire peninsula (my opinion of course).
    Yaxchillan Ruins.jpg

    yaxchilan-map.jpg

    Most of the lintels are carved above the doors on the ceilings of the various temple structures around the site (see below for an idea of what I am talking about). There are at least 50 of them, but I will just be sharing the best looking ones here! For those of you who are interested, the fantastic database over at the Peabody Museum should have all the information you could ask for.
    18793881605_cbc4c596d0_b.jpg

    Really hope I can visit the site someday!
     
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  14. Warden
    Slann

    Warden Tenth Spawning

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    Yaxchillan Lintels: Numbers 1 to 3. All depict Yaxchillan ruler Bird Jaguar IV

    First one depicts Bird Jaguar IV, king of Yaxchillan, apparently dancing with his wife/consort Lady Great Skull.
    Yax 1.jpg

    Originally I thought Lintel 2 was the one pictured above the door in the post above, but it looks different now that I am posting it. This one shows Bird Jaguar IV again, this time with his son, future Shield Jaguar IV.
    Yax 2.jpg

    Lintel 3 depicts Bird Jaguar IV again, this time alongside one of his sajals, K'in Mo'Ajaw. The sajal would have been a noble who lived in Yaxchillan, must have been pretty important to have been depicted in stone alongside his king.
    Yax 3.jpg
     
    Last edited: Sep 24, 2016
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  15. Warden
    Slann

    Warden Tenth Spawning

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    Yaxchillan Lintels: Lintel 8, 9, and 10

    Lintel 8 shows Bird Jaguar IV again and his Sajal K'an Tok Wayib grabbing their two captives (Jeweled Skull and Kok Te' Ajaw) in the midst of a battle. I have seen this lintel used as proof that shows the Yaxchillan kings were actually loosing power by this stage of Mayan history, due to the fact that a KING was forced to SHARE the glory by having to depict his powerful noble supporter in almost equal stature on a stone mural, a place normally reserved for the deeds of the King alone.
    Yax Lintel 08.jpg
    242.jpg

    il_570xN_655472937_538g.jpg

    Apparently this one is from a t-shirt. If I end up becoming an archeologist someday, I want one.
    37_350x350_Front_Color-NA.png

    Lintel 9 shows Bird Jaguar and his brother-in-law Chak Chami, dancing with jasawchan
    Yax Lintel 09.jpg

    Yaxchilan Lintel 10 does not have any people in them so far as I can find, instead they are covered in beautifully articulated glyphs. The first one deals with king K'inich Tatbu Jol III, and details his victory during a "star war" fought during an auspicious conjunction of Venus against a rival polity.

    Yax Lintel 10 a.jpg

    Edit: Also shown here is Stelae 11; originally I thought it was the missing Lintel 13 but I was mistaken. Still a great drawing! The first two columns of glyphs is a date, rest I am not sure.

    Yax Lintel 11.jpg
     
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  16. Warden
    Slann

    Warden Tenth Spawning

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    Yaxchillan Lintels: Lintels 12, 13, 14

    Another beautiful set. Lintel 12 shows Bird Jaguar with a noble/lieutenant, surrounded by what looks like a pack of worshippers. Most likely they are actually war captives, probably about to the sacrificed in his honor.

    Yax Lintel 12.jpg

    Lintels 13 and 14 are basically identical, in fact in half the sources I found they are mislabeled. Both show Bird Jaguar IV and his wife/consort Lady Chak Chami, along with their future son Shield Jaguar IV being born out of a vision serpent. The serpents name is Chanal Chak Bay Kaan, or "towering red thorn snake." The creature is known as a way (also spelt wei or whey in other sources), its basically a vision/dream creature interacting between the spirit world and the physical world. Also bears similarities with the demon concept from Japan, and the idea of a guardian angel.

    Lintel 13:
    Yax Lintel 13 02.jpg

    The way I was able to tell these two apart is the pose that Shield Jaguar is in (in Lintel14 he is bending down slightly) and the number of columns of text that Shield Jaguar is perched on (Lintel 13 has 2, Lintel 14 has 3). Both are beautiful pieces.

    Lintel 14:
    Yax Lintel 14 03.jpg
    Yax Lintel 14 01.jpg

    IMG_7862.JPG

    Yax Lintel 14 02.jpg

    Amazing stuff. Also here is another quick picture showing just where the majority of these lintels were actually found at the Yaxchillan site (up on the ceiling).

    ceiling lintel.jpg

    Can't tell which one it is though, could be Lintel 1-3.
     
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  17. Warden
    Slann

    Warden Tenth Spawning

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    Yaxchillan Lintel 15

    Yaxchilan-lintel-15.jpg

    This is one of the most famous of Yaxchillan's artwork, and one of the most recognizable Mayan images. The lintel depites Lady Wak Tuun ("Lady Six Stone," from the "Ik' " polity), a wife/consort of Bird Jaguar IV. She is experiencing a vision (brought on by the basket of bloodletting equipment in her hands) and sees a reat vision serpent in front of her. Its supposed to be an aspect of a deity, a "waterlily serpent," also an aspect of the lightning deity K'awiil, known as a nagual.

    The vision serpent image is widely copied all over the place, just try typing "mayan vision serpent" or "vision serpent" into google.

    Yaxchillan Vision Serpent.jpg

    lady_balam_(lintel_15)__yaxchilan-149C64765CD3C4113B7.png

    Yaxchillan Vision Serpent 02.jpg
     
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  18. Warden
    Slann

    Warden Tenth Spawning

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    Time for some more lintels.

    Lintel 16

    Another famous one from Yaxchillan, showing Bird Jaguar with a prominent captive, the king of Santa Elena, at his feet (Pay Lakam Chahk).

    Yax Lintel 16.jpg

    Yaxchilan_Lintel_16.jpg

    Lintel 17

    Depicts Bird Jaguar IV and another one of his many wives, Lady Mut Bahlam of Hiix Witz. She is conducting a bloodletting ritual of passing a rope through her tongue. I really like the skull-headdress he wears in this one, also the huge amount of intricate detail in their costumes.

    British_Museum_Yaxchilán_Lintel_17.jpg

    Echoes_blk.jpg
     
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  19. Warden
    Slann

    Warden Tenth Spawning

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    Two more lintels to go.

    Lintel 24
    Picture1.png

    Famous mural depicting Shield Jaguar III holding a flaming torch orver his wife/consort Lady K'abal Xook drawing a thorn-rope through her tongue (bizarre blood-letting ritual). Seems like she did something wrong, its apparently a penitential thing.

    d33fc553389557e4457b7d0b25a265318221fc41.jpg

    Yaxchilan-lintel-24.jpg
     
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  20. Warden
    Slann

    Warden Tenth Spawning

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    Lintel 25

    Yaxchilan_lintel_25.jpg

    Another one of favorites for last. Lintel 25 depicts the same lady as in the previous lintel, Lady K'abal Xook, conducting a bloodletting ritual that has caused a vision of another vision serpent. This one appears to her dressed in the costume of a warrior of Teotihuacan, and is probably Shield Jaguar III. Not sure what it means...

    maxresdefault.jpg
    b6a89a5331481575e3175a1ff20bb59c.jpg

    Hope you enjoyed the Yaxchillan! Really hope I can visit there someday.

    Also random note, I was originally going to post this next cool picture concerning Mayan headdresses being designed in artwork to mirror ruler's names. When I earmarked this site the first time I had labelled it as "Lintel 25," but one look at the picture as I posted it I realized I was in error. Turns out the lintel is actually Lintel 1 from La Pasadita... never heard of that Mayan site before. Still a cool picture. Link

    Lintel 25 Headdress.jpg
    psd001-port.jpg
     
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