Identifying Individual Hands in the Monuments of K’inich Ahkal Mo’ Naab of Palenque

Stone Inscription Sculptors

These examples should suffice to show that even in a short 12-glyph text, the foreman working for Akal Mo’ Nab saw fit to employ at least three expert stucco sculptors. One of these appears also to have worked on the inscription in Temple XVIII. But stucco text production was done piecemeal: Glyphs were formed individually, like cookies, dried, and then inserted into a bed of wet stucco on the wall. The drawback to this procedure is that the bond between glyph and substrate is rather weak, and the glyphs later fall off onto the floor. The advantage from a production standpoint is that it is not necessary for any glyph to be made in proximity to any other; one can distribute the work among several artists, and get the job done much more rapidly.

But what about stone inscriptions? Every carver needs a minimum of elbow room. Most stone inscriptions are monolithic, and one would expect any of these that are smaller than, say, the size of a grown man, to have been the work of a single artist.

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Click on image to enlarge

Click on image to enlarge

Click on image to enlarge

Indeed, this is clearly the case with the celebrated Panel of the 96 Glyphs (124-cm-long, made A.D. 783 for K’inich K’uk’-Balam and found in the Court of the Tower, Figure 15). The unique work of its brilliant and flamboyant artist is instantly recognizable. Other pieces by the ’96 Glyphs Master’ are the Lapida de la Creación (Figure 16, found with the Panel of the 96 Glyphs), two matching trapezoidal slabs bearing images of Chaak (Figure 17), and two fragments from the North Façade of the Palace (Schele & Mathews, 1979, item #37, my Figure 18). All of these seem to have once been part of a single throne or platform ensemble.

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Click on image to enlarge

The work of this master is recognizable partly because he (or she) esteems incised glyphs and images. Most Maya carvers sculpted glyphs in (relatively) naturalistic relief, relying on volumetric modeling to enhance the forms. The ’96 Glyphs Master,’ in contrast, engraves his forms, precisely copying the bold and modulated calligraphic strokes of the painted layout. This carved calligraphy is rare among the Maya (though it is the rule in China and Japan, and was also in Ancient Rome).

Click on image to enlarge

Click on image to enlarge

Click on image to enlarge

Maya incised texts appear most commonly on non-monumental contexts, such as inscribed shells, sceptres, and the like, and on monuments, in artists’ signatures and minor texts, such as one sees on stones from Piedras Negras, Yaxchilán, Bonampak, El Perú, and Kalak’mul (Figure 2 and Figure 21). One also sees incised texts at Palenque on stone incensario stands, such as those found in the Temple of the Cross and Temple XVIII (Schele & Mathews, 1979, #281 and #391, my Figure 22). Incised texts of a more prominent purpose are much rarer, and include some Early Classic stelae from Caracol (Figure 23), Bonampak Sculptured Stone 1 and the Platform or Throne of Palenque Temple XIX, the last of which occupies our attention next.

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