[Aztlan] List of reversed glyphs

[Elaine Day Schele]

Justin,
Great observations.  It also brings to mind the skill of present-day Maya 
weavers who are able to not only weave beautiful images that appear on the 
front side of the textile, but they also create the reverse image on the 
underside.  This is especially hard when using the technique of weaving in 
colored strands of thread that create bright images and is a proud skill 
that is passed down from mother to daughter from generation to generation.

Elaine
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Justin Kerr" <mayavase at verizon.net>
To: "'Diane Winters'" <diane at winterstileworks.com>; <aztlan at lists.famsi.org>
Sent: Friday, August 31, 2007 9:43 AM
Subject: RE: [Aztlan] List of reversed glyphs


> Dear Friends,
> I would like to suggest, if no one else has, that in this discussion of
> reversed and mirror imaging that the human aspect of artistry has not been
> reckoned with.
> As so many other speculations of why do these types of writing exist, I 
> make
> this humble offering. The artists who created these works were "showing
> off". In many cultures around the world artists and crafts people show off
> by creating what seem to be impossible deeds. Mirror writing is only one;
> there is a whole category of European paintings that can only be viewed by
> placing the work on a mirror. There are holy scriptures so small that they
> can only be read by use of a magnifying glass. I have seen Japanese street
> artists create incredible dragons in less time than it takes to write this
> sentence. In our own time a Greenwich Village artist received a lot of
> television time making paintings using toilet paper.
> To get back to the ancient Maya; it takes great skill, to say nothing of
> talent, to create a stone lintel, and having achieved that goal, I feel 
> some
> artists may have struck out and in their work said, "I am so good I can do
> it my way."
> Justin Kerr
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: aztlan-bounces at lists.famsi.org 
> [mailto:aztlan-bounces at lists.famsi.org]
> On Behalf Of Diane Winters
> Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2007 9:46 PM
> To: aztlan at lists.famsi.org
> Subject: Re: [Aztlan] List of reversed glyphs
>
> I'd just like to point out that on Yaxchilan Lintel 25 all of the glyphs 
> are
> reversed except for the fish-in-hand.  If this glyph had been reversed, it
> would have depicted a right hand instead of a left.  I'm not sure if
> preserving the left-handedness of the fish-in-hand was deliberate, but
> suspect it may have been and is somehow significant in the cultural 
> concepts
> surrounding the meaning of the glyph.
>
> Although I haven't yet read it myself, maybe the article Nate Meissner
> mentioned on Left/Right symbolism will be helpful to the general "reversed
> realm" discussion:
> Palka, Joel English
> 2002 Left/right symbolism and the body in ancient Maya
> iconography and culture
> Latin American Antiquity 13(4):419-443
> Washington, DC
>
> Diane Winters
> once upon a time working on the fish-in-hand glyph, hoping to get back to 
> it
> some day
>
>
> George Haas wrote:
>
>>I'd like to thank every one here that participated in assisting me in my
> search for reversed images and glyphs in Mesoamerican art. The following 
> is
> a list of the some of the most notable examples of reversed glyphs that I
> have archived so far.
>>
>>
>>
>>1. Lintel 25 - Yaxchilan.
>>
>>
>>
>>2. Bird Jaguar Monument - Yaxchilan.
>>
>>
>>
>>3. Western Bench, Temple 11 - Copan
>>
>>
>>
>>4. Paris Codex - page 23 & 24.
>>
>>
>>
>>5. La Mojarra stela.
>>
>>
>>
>>6. Right Throne Leg (of the Creation Tablet) - Palenque.
>>
>>
>>
>>7. Ratinlinxul Vase - K 594 - Guatemala.
>>
>>
>>
>>8. Codex Style Vase - K1333
>>
>>
>>
>>If any one knows of additional examples, please feel free to add it to the
> list.
>>
>
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