Frozen naturae: floral motives in Mayan terracotta of the First Millennium A.D.

The article is devoted to the analysis of various plant motives on Mayan terracotta figurines of the 1st millennium A.D. Two basic types of plant motives are identified, which are represented by plants that are independent subjects of the image, as well as those that are secondary in nature, supplementing the plot composition.

A characteristic is given of voluminous, bas-relief and flat forms of the image with a detailed characteristic of their localization, which differ in great variety: costume, hair-style, jewelry, headdress, tattoo, attributive objects, weapons, etc. The Jaina materials provide statistical data on the frequency of occurrence of all the above indicators. Attention is paid to the characteristics of individual plants and their elements, both domesticated and growing near humans, which can be identified and correlated with real prototypes. Quantitative and percentage characteristics of the occurrence of various plants are given, indicating their names in cases when they are definable.

Iconographic features in the images of plants are described in detail, consisting both in "photographic" copying of the features of real plants, and in significant artistic stylization of images characteristic rather of images on stelae painted with polychrome ceramics. Conclusions are made about the features of images of plant motives, which are expressed in places of localization, their role in the plot and composition of terracotta, and the semantic load that the visual embodiment of a particular plant or its image carried.

Keywords

Maya, terracotta, figurative plastic, plant motives, image form.

Received

10.03.2021

Publication date

02.11.2021

Number of characters

36705

Cite

GOST	Demicheva I. Frozen naturae: floral motives in Mayan terracotta of the First Millennium A.D. // Latin America – 2021. – Issue 11 C. 76-93 [Electronic resource]. URL: https://latamerica-journal.ru/S0044748X0017113-3-1 (circulation date: 06.05.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S0044748X0017113-3
MLA	Demicheva, Irina "Frozen naturae: floral motives in Mayan terracotta of the First Millennium A.D.." Latin America 11 (2021):76-93. DOI: 10.31857/S0044748X0017113-3
APA	Demicheva I. (2021). Frozen naturae: floral motives in Mayan terracotta of the First Millennium A.D.. Latin America (11), pp.76-93 DOI: 10.31857/S0044748X0017113-3

100 rub.

When subscribing to an article or issue, the user can download PDF, evaluate the publication or contact the author. Need to register.

Number of purchasers: 0, views: 521

Readers community rating: votes 0

1. Foundation for Latin American Anthropological Research. Available at: https://www.flaar.org (accessed 08.03.2021).

2. Hellmuth Nicholas M. Maya Ethnobotany. Complete Inventory fruits, nuts, root crops, grains, construction materials, utilitarian uses, sacred plants, sacred flowers. FLAAR Reports. 2014. Available at: http://www.maya-ethnobotany.org/FLAAR-Reports-Mayan-ethnobotany-Iconography-epigraphy-publications-books-articles-PowerPoint-presentations-course/26_Mayan-ethnobotany-Guatemala-Honduras-El-Salvador-Mexico-Belize-utilitarian-and-sacred-plants-flowers-annual-report-J-2014.pdf (accessed 08.03.2021).

3. Hellmuth Nicholas M. Maya Ethnobotany. Complete Inventory fruits, nuts, root crops, grains, construction materials, utilitarian uses, sacred plants, sacred flowers. FLAAR Reports. 2013. Available at: http://www.maya-ethnobotany.org/FLAAR-Reports-Mayan-ethnobotany-Iconography-epigraphy-publications-books-articles-PowerPoint-presentations-course/24_Mayan-ethnobotany-iconography-plants-food-fruits-sacred-flowers-trees-Guatemala_FLAAR-annual-report-2012-2013_new.pdf (accessed 08.02.2021).

4. Halperin C.T. Maya figurines. Intersection between State and Household. Austin, University of Texas Press, 2014, 300 r.

5. López Anaité. Nuevos aportes sobre la Identiﬁcación Botánica asociadas a elementos masculinos emergiendo de Flo en Figurillas procedentes de Jaina. Asociacion FLAAR Mesoamerica. Marzo 2010, 13 p.

6. Yale University Art Gallery. Available at: https://artgallery.yale.edu (accessed 09.02.2021).

7. El Museo Amparo. Available at: https://museoamparo.com (accessed 09.02.2021).

8. Museum of Fine Arts. Available at: https://www.mfa.org (accessed 09.02.2021).

9. Princeton University Art Museum. Available at: https://artmuseum.princeton.edu (accessed 09.02.2021).

10. Galerie Mermoz. Available at: http://www.galerie-mermoz.com (accessed 09.02.2021).

11. Brooklyn Museum. Available at: https://www.brooklynmuseum.org (accessed 09.02.2021).

12. Gardiner Museum. Available at: https://emuseum.gardinermuseum.com (accessed 08.02.2021).

13. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, LACMA. Available at: https://www.lacma.org (accessed 09.02.2021).

14. Walters Art Museum. Available at: https://art.thewalters.org (accessed 09.02.2021).

15. Museo Nacional de Antropología. Available at: https://www.mna.inah.gob.mx (accessed 09.03.2021).

16. Belyaev D.D. Chastnaya kollektsiya fotomaterialov izobrazhenij terrakotovykh statuehtok v kolichestve 54 edinits (Belyaev D.D. Private collection of photographic materials of images of terracotta figurines, 54 units).

17. Safronov A.V. Chastnaya kollektsiya fotomaterialov izobrazhenij terrakotovykh statuehtok v kolichestve 15 edinits (Safronov A.V. Private collection of photographic materials of images of terracotta figurines, 15 units).

18. Bruce S. Roberto D. Gramática del Lacandón. México, Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e historia, 1968, 153 r.

19. Dobkin de Rios M. Rastitel'nye gallyutsinogeny. M., KSP, 1997, 268.s. [Dobkin de Rios M. Rastitel'nye gallyutsinogeny [Plant hallucinogens]. Moscow, KSP, 1997, 268 r. Available at: https://ru.b-ok.cc/book/626596/22e3c6 (accessed 08.12.2020). (In Russ.).

20. Rands Robert L. The Water Lily in Maya Art: A Complex of Alleged Asiatic Origin. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 151. Anthropological Papers, 1953, N 34, Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, pp. 75-153.

21. Rands, Robert L. Some manifestations of water in Mesoamerican art. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 157, 1955, N 48. Washington, D.C., Smithsonian Institution, pp. 265–393.

22. Fernández-Concha G.C. Plumeria Rubra o flor demayo, una embajadora parcial. Desde el herbario CICY, 2012, N 4, pp. 58-60. Available at: https://cicy.mx/sitios/desde_herbario/2012 (accessed 16.12.2020).

23. Schultes R. E., Hofmann A., Rätsch Chr. Plants of the gods. Their Sacred, Healing, and Hallucinogenic Powers. Rochester, Vermont, Healing Arts Press, 2001, 208 p.

24. Shultes R.E. Hallucinogenic Plants. New York, Golden Press, Western Publishing Company Inc., 1976, 164 r. Available at: https://issuu.com/marthapina/docs/richard_evans_schultes_-_hallucinog (accessed 13.12.2020).

25. Borhegyi Stephan F. De. Pre-columbian Pottery Mushrooms from Mesoamerica. American Antiquity, 1963, N 28, pp. 328-338. Available at: https://www.en.psilosophy.info/pre_columbian_pottery_mushrooms_from_mesoamerica.html (accessed 15.12.2020).

26. Colunga-García Marín P., Zizumbo-Villarreal D. Domestication of plants in Maya low-lands. Economic Botany, 2004, vol.58, pp. 101–110.

27. Colunga-García Marín P., Ruenes-Morales R., Zizumbo-Villarreal D. Domesticación de plantas en las tierras bajas mayas y recursos fitogenéticos disponibles en la actualidad. Naturaleza y sociedad en el área Maya. Pasado, presente y futuro. Ed. Colunga-García Marín P, Larqué A. S. Academia Mexicana de Ciencias-CICY, 2003, pp. 145-158.

28. Bryan R.J. Mysteries of the Maize God. Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University, 2009, vol. 68, pp. 3-17. Available at: http://homework.sdmesa.edu/drogers/Art%20130/ Just%20Mysteries%20of%20the%20Maize%20God.pdf (accessed 12.12.2020).

29. Taube K. The Classic Maya Maize God: a reappraisal. Firth Palenque round table, 1983. Ed. Robertson M.G., Fields V.M. San Francisco, Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute, 1985, pp. 171-290.

30. Ruiz G Pedro J., Martínez C. J. Una gama de colores: los ibes de la península de Yucatán. Desde el Herbario CICY, 2017, N 9, pp. 142-146. Available at: http://www.cicy.mx/sitios/desde_herbario/ (accessed 11.01.2021).

31. Morehart C.T. Plants and caves in Ancient Maya Society. Stone houses and earth lords. Maya religion in the cave context. Ed. Prufer K.M. and Brady J.E. University Press of Colorado, 2005, pp. 167-185.

32. Morehart C. T. Plants of the Underworld: Ritual Plant Use in Ancient Maya Cave Ceremonies. 2008. 27 p. Available at: http://www.famsi.org/reports/00097/00097Morehart01.pdf (accessed 11.01.2021).

33. Morehart C.T. Landscapes of Knowledge, Power, and Practice: Social Permutations in Plant Practices and the Late Classic Maya. The Social Life of Seeds: Paleoethnobotanical Approaches to the Biographies of Plants and People in Ancient Mesoamerica. The 71st Annual Meetings of the Society for American Archaeology, San Juan, Puerto Rico, April 26 - 30, 2006. p. 8. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/31772505/Landscapes_of_Knowledge_Power_and_Prac-tice_Social_Permutations_in_Plant_Practices_and_the_Late_Classic_Maya (accessed 11.01.2021).

34. McAnany Patricia A. Living with the Ancestors: Kinship and Kingship in Ancient Maya Society. University of Texas Press, 1995, 213 r.

35. Martin S., Grube N. Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens. Deciphering the dynasties of the Ancient Maya. London, Thames &Hudson, 2008. 240 p.

36. Kerr Justin. A Pre-Columbian Portfolio. Available at: http://research.maya-vase.com/portfolio_hires.php?search=5768&date_added=&image=5768&display=8&rowstart=0 (accessed 11.09.2021).

37. Mathews J.P., Garber J.F. Models of cosmic order: Physical expression of sacred space among the ancient Maya. Ancient Mesoamerica. 2004, N 15, pp. 49-59.