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Tikal: Stone Sculpture

Of the forty-odd stelae and thirty accompanying altars carved in this manner at Tikal, eighteen feature royal portraits and historical texts.

Related

Cited Works of Art or Images (3)

• 
• 
• 

Timelines (3)

• Maya Area, 1–500 A.D.
• Maya Area, 500–1000 A.D.
• Mexico, 1–500 A.D.

Primary Thematic Essays (6)

• Aztec Stone Sculpture
• Cerro Sechin: Stone Sculpture
• La Venta: Stone Sculpture
• Monte Alban: Stone Sculpture
• Prehistoric Stone Sculpture from New Guinea
• Tikal: Sacred Architecture

Other Thematic Essays (11)

• Cerro Sechin
• La Venta
• La Venta: Sacred Architecture
• Monte Alban
• Monte Alban: Sacred Architecture
• Tenochtitlan
• Tenochtitlan: Templo Mayor
• Teotihuacan
• Teotihuacan: Ciudadela
• Teotihuacan: Pyramids of the Sun and the Moon
• The Year One

Maps (2)

• South America, 1–500 a.d.
• World, 1–500 a.d.

Index Terms (8)

Art Movement/Style

• Mayan Art of the Americas
• Teotihuacan Art of the Americas
• Veracruz Art of the Americas

Geography/Place

• Maya Area

Subject Matter/Theme

• Archaeology from Central America
• Hieroglyphs
• Ruler from Central America
• Warfare
• Warrior

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Hieroglyphic writing in the Maya lowlands was manifest at Tikal around 200 B.C., although the first contemporary inscription does not date until 500 years later. Stela 29, as the monument is numbered within the Tikal sequence, bears a Maya date equivalent to 292 A.D., and depicts a richly dressed profile figure thought to be a dynastic ruler of the city. Carved in low relief on slender stone shafts, the basic format for the elaborate depiction of Tikal's dynastic rulers, as seen on Stela 29, would continue until 869 A.D., when the last such monument was erected in Tikal's Great Plaza. While the depiction of a handsomely outfitted, lordly figure on a wide side of the stone shaft remained constant over the centuries, other elements such as accoutrements, headgear, and garments became more grandiose and visually complex, and the sides and back of the stela could be carved with long hieroglyphic inscriptions. Of the forty-odd stelae and thirty accompanying altars carved in this manner at Tikal, eighteen feature royal portraits and historical texts. These have been used to reconstruct the history of more than thirty dynastic rulers of Tikal, beginning with the legendary first-century A.D. founder Yax Ch'aktel Xok (First Scaffold Shark), incorporating the arrival in the late fourth century of a warrior called K'ak Sih (Fire-Born), apparently from the central Mexico city of Teotihuacan that initiated a period of Teotihuacan influence, and ending in the ninth century with the last lord of Tikal, Hasaw Chan K'awil II (Heavenly Standard Bearer).

Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Citation

Department of Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. "Tikal: Stone Sculpture". In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/maya3/hd_maya3.htm (October 2001)

Further Reading

Harrison, Peter D. The Lords of Tikal: Rulers of an Ancient Maya City. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1999.