vaulted chamber under the pyramid’s base. The towering structure
consists of nine sharply inclining platforms, probably a reference to
the nine levels of the Underworld. A narrow stairway leads up to a
three-chambered temple. Surmounting the temple is an elaborately
sculpted roof comb,a vertical architectural projection that once bore
the ruler’s giant portrait modeled in stucco. The entire structure
exhibits most concisely the ancient Mesoamerican formula for the
stepped temple-pyramid and the compelling aesthetic and psycho-
logical power of Maya architecture.JAINAThe almost unlimited variety of figural attitude and ges-
ture permitted in the modeling of clay explains the profusion of
Maya ceramic figurines that, like their West Mexican predecessors
(FIG. 14-4), may illustrate aspects of everyday life. Small-scale free-
standing figures in the round, they are remarkably lifelike, carefully
descriptive, and even comic at times. They represent a wider range of
human types and activities than is commonly depicted on Maya ste-
lae. Ball players (FIG. 14-11), women weaving, older men, dwarfs,
supernatural beings, and amorous couples, as well as elaborately at-
tired rulers and warriors, make up the figurine repertory. Many of
the hollow figurines are also whistles. They were made in ceramic
workshops on the mainland, often with molds, but graves in the is-
land cemetery of Jaina, off the western coast of Yucatán, yielded
hundreds of these figures, including the ball player illustrated here.
Traces of blue remain on the figure’s belt—remnants of the vivid
pigments that once covered many of these figurines. The Maya used
“Maya blue,” a combination of a particular kind of clay and indigo, a
vegetable dye, to paint both ceramics and murals. This pigment has
proved virtually indestructible, unlike the other colors that largelyhave disappeared over time. Like the larger terracotta figures of West
Mexico, these figurines accompanied the dead on their inevitable
voyage to the Underworld. The excavations at Jaina, however, have
revealed nothing more that might clarify the meaning and function
of the figures. Male figurines do not come exclusively from burials of
male individuals, for example.BONAMPAKThe vivacity of the Jaina figurines and their variety
of pose, costume, and occupation have parallels in the mural paint-
ings of Bonampak (Mayan for “painted walls”) in southeastern
Mexico. Three chambers in one Bonampak structure contain murals
that record important aspects of Maya court life. The example repro-
duced here (FIG. 14-12) shows warriors surrounding captives on a
terraced platform. The figures have naturalistic proportions and over-
lap, twist, turn, and gesture. The artists used fluid and calligraphic line
to outline the forms, working with color to indicate both texture and
volume. The Bonampak painters combined their pigments—both
mineral and organic—with a mixture of water, crushed limestone, and
vegetable gums and applied them to their stucco walls in a technique
best described as a cross between frescoand tempera.
The Bonampak murals are filled with circumstantial detail. The
information given is comprehensive, explicit, and presented with the
fidelity of an eyewitness report. The royal personages are identifiable
by both their physical features and their costumes, and accompany-
ing inscriptions provide the precise day, month, and year for the
events recorded. All the scenes at Bonampak relate the events and
ceremonies that welcome a new royal heir (shown as a toddler in
some scenes). They include presentations, preparations for a royal
fete, dancing, battle, and the taking and sacrificing of prisoners. On
all occasions of state, public bloodletting was an integral part of
Maya ritual. The ruler, his consort, and certain members of the no-
bility drew blood from their own bodies and sought union with the
supernatural world. The slaughter of captives taken in war regularly
accompanied this ceremony. Indeed, Mesoamerican cultures under-
took warfare largely to provide victims for sacrifice. The torture and
eventual execution of prisoners served both to nourish the gods and
to strike fear into enemies and the general populace.
The scene (FIG. 14-12) in room 2 of structure 1, depicts the pre-
sentation of prisoners to Lord Chan Muwan. The painter arranged
the figures in registers that may represent a pyramid’s steps. On the
uppermost step, against a blue background, is a file of gorgeously ap-
pareled nobles wearing animal headgear. Conspicuous among them
on the right are retainers clad in jaguar pelts and jaguar headdresses.
Also present is Chan Muwan’s wife (third from right). The ruler
himself, in jaguar jerkin and high-backed sandals, stands at the cen-
ter, facing a crouching victim who appears to beg for mercy. Naked
captives, anticipating death, crowd the middle level. One of them,
already dead, sprawls at the ruler’s feet. Others dumbly contemplate
the blood dripping from their mutilated hands. The lower zone, cut
through by a doorway into the structure housing the murals, shows
clusters of attendants who are doubtless of inferior rank to the lords
of the upper zone. The stiff formality of the victors contrasts graph-
ically with the supple imploring attitudes and gestures of the hapless
victims. The Bonampak victory was short-lived. The artists never
finished the murals, and shortly after the dates written on the walls,
the Maya seem to have abandoned the site.
The Bonampak murals are the most famous Maya wall paint-
ings, but they are not unique. In 2001 at San Bartolo in northeastern
Guatemala, archaeologists discovered the earliest examples yet
found. They date to about 100 BCE, almost a millennium before the
Bonampak murals.374 Chapter 14 NATIVE ARTS OF THE AMERICAS BEFORE 130014-11Ball player, Maya, from Jaina Island, Mexico, 700–900 CE.
Painted clay, 6– 41 high. Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City.
Maya ceramic figurines represent a wide range of human types and
activities. This kneeling ball player wears a thick leather belt and arm-
and kneepads to protect him from the hard rubber ball.1 in.
14-12A
Enthroned
Maya lord,
cylinder vase,
ca. 672–830 CE.