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Doubled-Headed Serpent
British Museum, Aztec, 15th-century, wall hanging relief, compound stone, antique sandstone finish, ready to hang, 11H" x 19"L x 1.5"D, (stand not included), P-009S, $102
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This double-headed rattlesnake serpent was used as a ceremonial chest ornament that may have been worn by a priest. In Mesoamerican culture, serpents were very important religious symbols; the shedding of their skin made them a symbol of rebirth and renewal.
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Maya Vision Serpent Relief
Palenque, Mexico, 800 AD. The maya vision serpent symbolizes the passage of ancestral spirits and the gods of Xibalba (the maya underworld) into our world. In states of ecstasy and usually following penis or tongue bloodletting, particularly as graphically depicted at Yaxchilan, maya mobility invoke the vision serpent. Wall hanging relief, compound stone, antique sandstone finish, ready to hang, 8H", P-007S, $55
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Maya Vision Serpent Large Wall Relief
During special ceremonies, bloody papers were burnt in a sacred bowl and from it, this great undulating serpent rises and from its mouth emerges an ancestor or, occasionally, a deity. The serpent itself then, is probably what one sees in the clouds of smoke rising from the burning sacrifice, and cloud symbols may flank the vision serpent's body. Made from compound stone in an antique stone finish, this amazing Mayan wall plaque measures 19.5"H. P-016S, $102
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Maya Vision Serpent Large Colored Wall Relief
The vision serpent can be the vehicle by which ancestors or deities make themselves manifest to humanity. This sculpture depicts a version with a single head and personified blood scrolls attached to its tail. Made from a compound stone with an antique stone finish with hand-painted color details. This fantastic Mayan wall hanging measures 19.5"H. P-016SP, $169
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Aztec Solar Calendar
Antrop. Museum, Mexico City, 1500 AD, wall hanging relief, compound stone, antique sandstone finish, ready to hang.
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Small: 11" diameter,
P-090S, $43
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Large: 17" diameter,
P-001S, $87
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The Aztec calendar set out the mathematical formulas according to which the whole universe was organized and which governed the actions of men and Gods alike. The calendar was consulted by the priests before the Aztecs engaged in any activity--whether farming, warfare, religion or commerce. The Aztecs attributed the invention of the calendar to the God Quetzalcoatl.
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Maya Ball Player Circular Relief
From Palenque, Mexico 590 A.D. Surrounded by hieroglyphs, an ancient ball player demonstrates his skill and strength. The player's ability to manipulate and move the ball into stone rings, without the use of hands, was played to honor the gods with skill. The ball game represented the movements of the heavens for many pre-Hispanic peoples and, for the Maya, the game (called Ulama) had a religious significance. Made frrom compound stone with an antique stone finish, this dynamic wall plaque measures 12"H. P-014S, $48.00
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Lid of the Sarcophagus of Palenque
1952, in the city of Palenque, in a temple on top of a pyramid, the archaeologist Albert Lluillier found access to a funerary crypt that houses the sarcophagus of King Pacal Votan the Great (615-683 AD). Wall hanging relief, compound stone, green finish with brown highlights, ready to hang, 14.5"H. P-091S, $55
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The Soviet scientist Alexander Kazantev came out with the theory that the relief on the lid of the sarcophagus represents an astronaut and his spaceship but according to the Mayan legend, the symbology of the lid shows King Pacal falling into the jaws of the Earth monster each night to rise again with the power of the sun each morning. The pillar-like construction above Pacal's head is the Tree of Life. The lid is twelve feet long.
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Pacal Mayan King Bust
Palenque, Mexico. 692 A.D. King Pacal (also known as Pacal the Great) was born in the year 603 A.D. He was king of the Maya Kingdom of Palenque and is said to have reigned for 67 years until his death at the age of 80. The name "Pacal" means "shield" in the Maya language. Pacal expanded Palenque's power in the western part of the Maya states, and initiated a building program at his capital that produced some of the finest art and architecture of the Maya civilization. He was preceded as ruler of Palenque by his mother Lady Zac-Kuk. As the Palenque dynasty seems to have had Queens only when there was no eligible male heir, Zac-Kuk transfered rulership to her son upon his official maturity. He accended the throne at age 12 on 29 July, 615 A.D. After his death, Pacal the Great was worshiped as a god, and said to communicate with his descendants. His elaborate temple tomb had a stairway down to his crypt, and after this was sealed up it had a long "speaking tube" connected to the temple atop the step-pyramid. The lid of Pacal's tomb, referred to by some as The lid of Palenque, is the most photographed, reproduced and written about stone work of its kind.
Made from cultured marble, measures 11"H.
P-018S, $85
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Feathered Head of Kukulcan Wall Hanging
Pyramid of Quetzalcoaltl, Teotihuacan, Mexico. 300 A.D. One of the great Gods of Ancient Mesoamerica, Quetzalcoatl is a synthesis of serpent and bird. The name means "quetzal serpent". The quetzal was a sacred bird of very beautiful feathers which were used in elite and ritual costumes. relief, compound stone, antique sandstone finish, ready to hang, 6 1/2"H x 7"D.
P-008S, $55
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Aztec Moon Goddess Coyolxauhqui Wall Hanging, Temple Mayor Museum, Mexico City. 1400 A.D. This sculpture, 10 feet in diameter, is one of the most impresive and important examples of Aztec art. Her name is Coyolxauhqui, which means "She of the Rattles on her Cheeks". She was also called one who "spoke to all the centipedes and spiders and transformed herself into a sorceress" or a "very evil woman". She was one of the major goddesses in Aztec mythology. Compound stone, antique sandstone finish, ready to hang, 11"H, P-003S, $45
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Toltec Atlantean Warrior Statue
The Toltecs ruled much of Maya central Mexico from the tenth to twelfth centuries A.D. The Toltecs were the last dominant Mesoamerican culture before the Aztecs, and inherited much from Maya civilization. The Toltec capital was at Tula, 80 kilometres north of Mexico City. The most impressive Toltec ruins, however, are at Chichén Itzá in Yucatán, where a branch of Toltec culture survived beyond the civilization's fall in central Mexico. The Toltec Atlantean Warrior is made from compound stone and measures 14.5”H. P-012S, $73
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Maya King Chan-Bahlun
(Bird-Jaguar)
Temple of the Foliated Cross, Palenque, Mexico. 692 A.D.
This sculpture is a fragment of a larger scene that shows one of the ascention rituals of Chan-Bahlum to the throne of the city of Palenque. Chan-Bahlum is shown presenting the "Tialoc", a symbol of ritual bloodletting to the foliated tree of life. W all hanging relief, compound stone, antique sandstone finish, ready to hang, 14"H, P-002S, $43
This is a detail from the complete relief below. View a larger picture.
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Mayan Tablet of the Foliated Tree of Life
Temple of the Foliated Cross, Palenque, Mexico. 698 A.D. The original of this tablet is located in the temple of the foliated cross, one of the three temples in Palenque, known as the Group of the Cross, built by King Chan-Bahlum to commemorate and celebrate his accession rites to the throne after the death of his father, king Pacal. The tablet shows Chan Bahlum on the left side, dressed simply with a loin cloth and his long hair wrapped in readiness to don the heavy headdress of kingship. His father Pacal stands on the other side, dressed in burial apparel. Pacal holds the insignia of royal power, the passing of authority will occur at the end of ten days of accession rites. In the center we see a variant of the tree of life formed by a maize plant rising from a band of water and the Kan-cross Waterlily Monster, which symbolizes the waters of the earth as the source of life. In the crown of the tree sits a huge water bird wearing the mask of the Celestial Bird. The branches of the tree are ears of maize manifested as human heads since in Maya tradition, human flesh was made from maize dough. Pacal is shown giving to his son a personified bloodletter, an instrument for bloodletting rituals and vision quests. It drew the blood of the King and brought on the trance that opened the portal to Shivalva (the Maya underworld) and brought forth the Gods. Ready to hang, made from compound stone, and measures 13”H x 19”W. P-011S, $79
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View more Precolumbian Art: Page 2 - Precolumbian Art
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