Stylization , with simplified, curvilinear shapes. As in traditions of sculpture throughout the world, human and animal figures are common, as are hybrid creatures. Humans are often depicted with elaborate headdresses and jewellery. Olmec art has survived chiefly in the form of small figures and vessels sculpted from stone and clay. The most famous Olmec works, however, are the colossal heads : enormous stone busts which stand over six feet high. One of the principal forms of Mesoamerican sculpture is the stele plural stelae : an upright stone slab carved in relief.
Stelae were fashioned by many civilizations as religious and civic monuments , often displaying the portraits and deeds of deities or human rulers. They likely were commissioned by the deceased before his death or by his survivors, and were occasionally sent from distant sites as funerary offerings.
The Maya had complex architectural programs. They built imposing pyramids, temples, palaces, and administrative structures in densely populated cities. Describe the characteristic style and functional elements of Maya architecture in the Classic and Postclassic periods.
In Palenque, Mexico, a prominent city of the Classic period, the major buildings are grouped on high ground. The central group of structures includes the Palace possibly an administrative and ceremonial center as well as a residential structure , the Temple of the Inscriptions, and two other temples.
Most of the structures in the complex were commissioned by a powerful ruler, Lord Pakal, who reigned from to CE, and his two sons, who succeeded him. Mayan culture, late 7th century.
The Temple of the Inscriptions is a nine-level pyramid that rises to a height of about 75 feet. The consecutive layers probably reflect the belief, current among the Aztec and Maya at the time of the Spanish conquest, that the underworld had nine levels.
Priests would climb the steep stone staircase on the exterior to reach the temple on top, which recalls the kind of pole-and-thatch houses the Maya still build in parts of the Yucatan today.
The roof of the temple was topped with a crest known as a roof comb , and its facade still retains much of its stucco sculpture.
Inscriptions line the back wall of the outer chamber, giving the temple its name. Across from the Temple of Inscriptions is the Palace , a complex of several adjacent buildings and courtyards built on a wide artificial terrace. The Palace was used by the Mayan aristocracy for bureaucratic functions, entertainment, and ritual ceremonies. Numerous sculptures and bas-relief carvings within the Palace have been conserved.
Like many other buildings at the site, the Observation Tower exhibits a mansard roof. The Palace was equipped with numerous large baths and saunas which were supplied with fresh water by an intricate water system. An aqueduct constructed of great stone blocks with a six-foot-high vault diverts the Otulum River to flow underneath the main plaza. As the focus of Maya civilization shifted northward in the Postclassic period, a northern Maya group called the Itza rose to prominence.
At the spring and fall equinoxes, the setting sun casts an undulating, serpent-like shadow on the stairways, forming bodies for the serpent heads carved at the base of the balustrades. The Great Ball Court northwest of the Castillo is the largest and best preserved court for playing the Mesoamerican ball game, an important sport with ritual associations played by Mesoamericans since BCE.
The parallel platforms flanking the main playing area are each feet long. The walls of these platforms stand 26 feet high. Rings carved with intertwined feathered serpents are set high at the top of each wall at the center. At the base of the interior walls are slanted benches with sculpted panels of teams of ball players. In one panel, one of the players has been decapitated; the wound spews streams of blood in the form of wriggling snakes.
This small masonry building has detailed bas-relief carving on the inner walls, including a center figure with decorative carvings that resemble facial hair. Built into the east wall are the Temples of the Jaguar. The Upper Temple of the Jaguar overlooks the ball court and has an entrance guarded by two large columns carved in the familiar feathered serpent motif. At the entrance to the Lower Temple of the Jaguar is another Jaguar throne similar to the one in the inner temple of El Castillo.
Ceramic figurines are a hallmark of Classic Veracruz art. The Veracruz people produced a variety of small clay figures in multiple areas around the modern state of Veracruz, Mexico.
Describe characteristics of ceramic figurines from two parts of Veracruz known for ceramic production in the Classic and Late Classic periods. The modern state of Veracruz lies along the Mexican Gulf Coast, north of the Maya lowlands and east of the highlands of central Mexico. Culturally diverse and environmentally rich, the people of Veracruz took part in dynamic interchanges between three regions that over the centuries included trade, warfare, and migration. During the middle centuries of the first millennium, the artistically gifted Veracruzanos created inventive ceramic sculpture in diverse yet related styles.
Until the early s, Classic Veracruz ceramics were few, little understood, and generally without provenance known history. Since then, the recovery of thousands of figurines and pottery pieces from sites such as Remojadas and Nopiloa some initially found by looters , has expanded our understanding and filled many museum shelves. Of particular note are the Sonrientes Smiling Figurines, with triangular-shaped heads and outstretched arms. The Sonrientes figure from Remojadas below provides scholars with an example of the clothing worn in ancient times, such as the loincloth and headdress.
The flattened forehead on this smiling figure may represent the practice of intentional cranial deformation or may simply reflect an artistic convention. Many American cultures considered a flattened forehead desirable and used a variety of techniques to flatten the skulls of infants while they were still pliable.
The figure contains both hand-modeled and mold-made elements. Another smiling figure from the Remojadas region is a hollow ceramic sculpture representing an individual celebrating with music and dance. This bare-chested figure with open mouth and filed teeth stands energetically with legs spread and arms lifted as if caught in mid-motion. He wears a woven cap with geometric patterns, an elaborate skirt, circular earrings, a beaded necklace, and a bracelet.
His face and body contain patterns evocative of body paint, including slight lines emanating from his lower eyelids and onto his cheeks. In contrast to Smiling Figures from Remojadas, the mold-made ceramic figure from Nopiloa below depicts a bearded, mustachioed male wearing a ballgame yoke around his waist to protect him from the hard, solid rubber ball used in play.
There are cylindrical ear ornaments in his ears and beneath his arm, a baton-like object perhaps related to the local incarnation of the game. The rules and manner in which the Mesoamerican ballgame was played varied among contemporary sites and evolved through time. Surviving evidence suggests human sacrifice was a frequent outcome, but the game may also have been played for other purposes such as sport.
The people of ancient Veracruz interacted with people from other Mesoamerican cultures, and this Nopiloa figure displays motifs commonly found in Mayan art.
A motif similar to the Maya mat, a symbol of rulership, appears on the flanged headdress of the ballplayer. Like Mayan figurines of this type, the body of this figure is a whistle, a musical instrument used in ritual and ceremony. Mixtec culture had a unique and complex writing system that used characters and pictures to represent complete words and ideas instead of syllables or sounds.
The colossal sculpture at La Venta also included large "altars" of volcanic stone that may have functioned as thrones for political leaders. The throne known as Altar 4 features a male figure seated cross-legged, leaning forward out of the mouth of a cave, grasping a rope.
The act of sitting or kneeling while leaning forward is a trope in Olmec-period sculpture that seems intimately tied with the civilization's rulers, though the exact systems of governance remain opaque. Kneeling bearded figure , — B. Mexico, Puebla. Serpentine, H. Depicting a kneeling figure, this intimately scaled serpentine sculpture is notable for its harmonious proportions, subtle musculature, and dynamic pose fig. This stately portrait of an Olmec-period ruler was reportedly found in Puebla, away from the Gulf Coast homeland, just as other Olmec-style art in ceramic.
The image is somewhat individualized. Incised details indicate a stylized coiffure and a beard along the jaw that comes to a point. The head, perhaps exhibiting cranial modification that was found among Olmec societies, features empty eye sockets, perhaps once inlaid with shell or stone. The hands and feet were broken off in antiquity and the left arm has also suffered losses.
The sculpture belongs to an important class of works depicting kneeling males in various states of transformation into, or impersonation of, powerful feline deities.
A similar work in the Cleveland Museum of Art's collection suffered more damage in antiquity, while smaller examples in the Princeton University Art Museum and the Dumbarton Oaks Museum are better preserved fig. Left to right: Kneeling figure , ca. Mexico, Guerrero. Stone, Kneeling lord with incised toad on his head , — B. Mexico, Veracruz. Olmec style. Stone with red pigment, H Gerard B. Lambert by exchange, y— Kneeling transformation figure , — B. Serpentine with red pigment, 19 x 9.
In this gallery, there are examples from the Aztec and Mayan civilizations; between the two there is easily a way to distinguish the difference between the two, mainly due to the amount of detail between the two. Mesoamerican art. This mask is an excellent example of the amount of detail that the Aztec people put into creating this mask.
The use of the different colored stones creates a sense of depth an dcreativity.
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