Fig. 66.—Women weaving.
(Troano-Cortesianus MS.)
Maya carving is seen at its best when applied to wood, but owing to the perishable nature of the material few examples have survived. Nearly all of these are from Tikal, and consist of lintels on which designs are sculptured in low and beautifully modelled relief (Fig. [48]; p. 225). The fact that practically no idols have been discovered seems to indicate that they were carved in wood and so have failed to survive, and indeed Landa states that amongst the historical Yucatec the most venerated idols were wooden. The relation which the reliefs, especially those of the northern Maya region, as at Palenque, bear to wood-carvings is evident, and no doubt proficiency in wood-carving antedated skill in sculpture.
Of weaving and embroidery nothing is known, save that the historical Yucatec were experts in the art. However, the dresses of the figures sculptured on the monuments prove that the early Maya had attained great proficiency in the textile arts. Garments heavy with embroidery, and with elaborate inwoven designs, are sculptured with great care, and a fine example is shown on Pl. [XXII]; p. 294. The loom used must have been of the same type as that found throughout Mexico and Central America in historical times (Fig. [66]; compare Fig. [27, b]; p. 148).
The subject of Maya pottery, though extremely interesting, has not yet been studied sufficiently to yield any very important results, as far as indicating the direction in which the culture spread. It is complicated moreover by the fact that there was evidently a considerable trade in pottery in early times, and the ware of a good factory spread far and wide over a large area. Besides this the available material has not yet been fully classified, and much more excavation must be performed before really representative collections, illustrative of the various districts, can be brought together. Seler has attempted to trace to some extent the wanderings of pottery from certain centres of manufacture; he calls attention to the finding in Guatemala of ware of Tarascan type; and concludes that the ware of Huehuetenango and Chiquimula spread over the whole of south-western Guatemala and south-eastern Chiapas, while that of Jilotepec in the Guatemalan province of Jalapa was carried to south-eastern Guatemala and western San Salvador. The Maya had carried the fictile art to a high degree of development, though they never obtained such a mastery over their material as the coastal tribes of Peru. Naturally the quality of the ware varies considerably according to the use for which the vessel was intended, but the paste in the best specimens is hard, well mixed and fired, and varies in colour from a bright terra-cotta to pale cream, though the majority of fragments are of a reddish tinge; black pottery is rare. Some of the Guatemalan vases are moulded from a clay containing a large percentage of mica, and these are usually softer than the better-class ware; while certain vessels from the Peten district are composed of a very coarse grey clay containing small pebbles. The latter have not been fired at a high temperature and are very soft. Another form of coarse, soft and brittle ware is found in British Honduras, chiefly in the form of small figurines probably made for funerary purposes (Pl. [IX, 7–11]; p. 82).
The shapes in which the pots were moulded exhibit great variety, and most of the types characteristic of Sacrificios are found scattered over the whole area, though they are more common in Guatemala than in Yucatan and Honduras. In particular a very close connection appears to exist between Sacrificios pottery and the ware of the Alta Vera Paz region. The similarity is not confined to shape, but relates also to the peculiar slate-coloured earth-glaze (see p. 194), which is found on many of the vases of this district, and extends westward into the neighbourhood of Quen Santo in western Guatemala close to the Chiapas border. Another interesting similarity exists between the spouted vases of the Huaxtec country and certain pots discovered in British Honduras, and further south in Honduras. The resemblance which certain forms of the Uloa valley bear to the regular Huaxtec “teapot” (Fig. [42]; p. 196) with its vertical spout is very striking, but the bodies are not ornamented with painted designs, being either plain or decorated with faint gadroons.
The shape which is perhaps of widest distribution is the tripod bowl, the feet of which terminate in grotesque animal heads, like those of Sacrificios (Pl. [XIX]; p. 198), or are moulded in cascabel form and contain a rattle (as Fig. [36, 9]; p. 185). The former type appears rather to be limited to Vera Paz, while the latter has a wider range. The beaker-form with expanding foot, so common at Sacrificios (e.g. Pl. [XVIII, 10]; p. 194), extends through Vera Paz to the Chacula district, while bowls, invariably with a flat base, and bottle-forms, appear to be found in greatest numbers in the Uloa valley. The pottery of the latter district is distinguished by the frequency of loop-handles attached to the bodies of vases, usually two in number, but sometimes four, and always disposed symmetrically. Bowls with the peculiar flat feet characteristic of the Mexican valley (Fig. [36, 3]; p. 185), and the dishes with a single expanding foot (Fig. [36, 8]), so common at Sacrificios, have not yet been found in this area. Characteristic of the Quiché area are vases of coarse ware in “slipper” form, a type which is also common in Nicaragua, where it is often used as a funerary urn.
PLATE XXIV
MAYA