Mayan Portraiture
Strong cultural influences stemming from the Olmec tradition and from Teotihuacan contributed to the development of the Maya city center and the culture's Classic artistic tradition. The most sacred and majestic buildings of Maya cities were built in enclosed, centrally located precincts. The Maya held dramatic rituals within the highly sculptured and painted environments of these precincts. For example, the grand pyramids of Copan and Tikal are among the most imposing buildings the Maya erected; each pyramid contains sculpted portraits that glorified the city's rulers.
Stele H in the Great Plaza at Copan represents one of the city's foremost leaders, 18-Rabbit (reigned from 695-738 CE). During the ruler's long reign, Copan reached its greatest physical extent and breadth of political influence. On Stele H, 18-Rabbit wears an elaborate headdress and ornamented kilt and sandals. He holds across his chest a double-headed serpent bar, symbol of the sky and of his absolute power. His features have the quality of a portrait likeness, although highly idealized. The Maya elite, like the Egyptian pharaohs, tended to have themselves portrayed in a conventionalized manner and as eternally youthful. The dense, deeply carved ornamental details that frame the face and figure stand almost clear of the main stone block and wrap around the sides of the stele. The stele was originally painted - remnants of red paint are visible on many stelae and buildings in Copan.
Stele H portraying the ruler 18-Rabbit. Great Plaza at Copan, Honduras. Made of stone, 11' 9" high.
Although a powerful ruler, 18-Rabbit eventually was captured and beheaded by a rival king.
Clay Sculpture
There remains an enormous amount of small clay figures from the Classic Mayan period. Small-scale, free-standing figures, the clay objects illustrate aspects of everyday Mayan life. As a group of objects, they are remarkably life-like, carefully descriptive, and even comic at times. They represent a wider range of human types and activities than is commonly depicted on Mayan stelae. Ball players, women weaving, older men, dwarves, supernatural beings, and amorous couples, as well as elaborately attired rulers and warriors comprise one of the largest groups of surviving Mayan art. Many of the hollow figurines are also whistles. They were made in ceramic workshops and painted with Maya Blue, a dye distinctive to Maya and Aztec artists particularly. Found in burial sites, small clay figures were made to accompany the Maya dead on their inevitable voyage to the Underworld.
Ballplayer, Maya, from Jaina Island, Mexico, 700-900CE. Painted clay, 6.25" high.
Maya Blue is a pigment that has proven virtually indestructible, unlike other colors that have largely disappeared over time.
Painted Vases
The Maya painted vivid narrative scenes on the surfaces of cylindrical vases. A typical vase design (an example is below) depicts a palace scene where an enthroned Mayan ruler sits surrounded by courtiers and attendants. The figures wear simple loincloths, turbans of wrapped cloth and feathers, and black body paint. These kinds of painted vases may have been used as drinking and food vessels for noble Maya, but their final destination was the tomb, where they accompanied the deceased to the Underworld. They likely were commissioned by the deceased before his death or by his survivors, and were occasionally sent from distant sites as funerary offerings.