The Classic Maya period was an age of
profound
intellectual and artistic achievements,
when the
Maya built monumental pyramids and
magnificent urban centers in homage to
their
gods. At a time when the Western world
languished after the fall of the Roman
Empire,
the New World experienced an age of
imperial
grandeur, when great city-states like
Tikal and
Copán proclaimed Mayan hegemony over the
emerald forests of Mexico and Guatemala.
Theirs
was a sophisticated but startlingly
brutal
civilization— wars were waged not for
land or
prestige, but for blood, for slaves
sacrificed atop
the great pyramids to appease the god’s
insatiable lust for human flesh. The
Mayan world
was an arcane realm where the earth was
contiguous with the heavens and the
underworld.
It was a society infused with
spiritualism, a
society that reflected both the majesty
and
savagery of the rain forests. Like the
ancient
societies of the Mediterranean, ceramic
forms
were vital to the Mayan economy and
traded
alongside coveted resources such as
Jade,
obsidian, flint, and shells.
The Maya believed the universe was
divided into
three parts: the Over world (heaven),
the Middle
world (the world of humankind), and the
Underworld (hell). All three were
considered
interconnected and accessible through
"doorways", or through Shamanic ritual.
It was
believed the Underworld could be entered
through a cave or through bodies of
standing
water, such as a lake or ocean. To
comprehend
the nature of these three worlds and the
beings
that inhabit them was important to daily
life of
Maya society.
Mayan art was composed of a complex
symbolic
language with deeply important social
functions.
Mainly commissioned by kings and other
elite
figures, works of Mayan art fulfilled
both political
and social purposes. Because the art
functioned
as a type of language, to be understood
by the
entire population, a certain consistency
in
subject matter and its portrayal was
necessary.
Whether on a cylinder vessel or a great
mural,
Maya art essentially depicts ritual. The
impressive
Maya ceremonies, recorded for posterity
in their
art, were crucial events in the lives of
the kings,
and consequently important to society as
a
whole. In Maya believe, an actual ritual
ceremony
is directly connected with the art which
represents it; both conceived of as a
power
process that transformed spiritual
beings into
corporeal beings on the human level, and
allowed
people and objects to become the sacred
beings
they represented.
In the 9th and 10th centuries AD, the
productivity
of the southern regions went into
decline for
reasons that are still uncertain
(although
ecological causes are the likeliest
option),
although the northern areas continued to
flourish
on a reduced scale until the arrival of
European
forces and the subsequent decimation of
Native
American cultures across both
continents. What
is left, however – particularly dating
to the Classic
Period – includes art and other
achievements that
many consider to be the most refined and
beautiful of the ancient New World.
Stucco, mural
painting (notably with the use of “Maya
Blue”, the
secret of which has been lost since the
16th
century) and sculpture were all of an
astounding
quality and naturalism, with some
sophisticated
expressionistic tendencies. This finely
carved
jade hacha was likely used for
ceremonial
purposes before and after the infamous
Mayan
ballgames. It is an exquisitely
rendered skull
with bold smooth lines and an abstracted
form
which displays the character and surface
of the
jade magnificently.
- (CK.0616)
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