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Ninth-Century Stelae of Machaquilá and Seibal
| Stela 1 |
| Stela 1 (Figure 20, shown right), as well as the compositionally similar Stelae 14 and 15, explored a three-quarters figural pose that finds several Southern Lowland precedents. The first of the three, Stela 15, presents a long, lean figural form with arms held tightly against the body likely to accord with the form of the stone, in what seems an attempt to present a three-quarters figural pose. The figure holds a shield and a spear, a pairing with strong Southern Lowland precedent. The artist of Stela 1 seems to have further developed the three-quarters pose of the figure from Stela 15 by presenting both legs (and feet) facing the viewer's left. Some of the novel aspects of the figure's costume and accoutrements, such as the knotted serpent headdress, derive from earlier sculptures at Seibal. Others, such as the rope pectoral, the jaguar tail on the rear of the hipcloth and the crossed-band gaiters seem to have been inspired by the art of other Southern Lowland Maya cities. The 'Knife-Wing' bird atop the headdress, on the other hand, seems to reflect some form of interaction with Chichén Itzá, or the two sites' mutual interaction with some other group. |
Click on image to enlarge. |
In contrast to the proposal of Ringle and his colleagues that the individual on Stela 1 is from Chichén Itzá, the various sources of Stela 1's eclectic iconography instead suggest a continued interest in presenting a generally 'cosmopolitan' ruler.20 The Seibal Emblem Glyph, which featured prominently in the inscriptions of the Structure A-3 stelae, erected twenty years earlier, is absent from Stela 1 and other late Seibal sculptures. Seibal's K'awiil/GI patron deity pair, however, continued to be referenced in text and image on later stelae.
Endnote
- Ringle et al. 1998.
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