Currently not on view

Plaque depicting a seated lord,

600–800 CE

Maya
Late Classic
2014-54
This shell plaque depicts a seated male individual dressed in a loincloth, hip-skirt, and cloth head-wrappings. Recesses in areas where Maya nobility wore jade ornaments likely once held jade inlays. The figure faces the viewer’s left, which in Maya art is a conventional orientation for scenes of Maya royalty or secondary lords. This pose—with the right arm held across the torso—normally depicts a lord receiving tribute or holding audience. Some similar shell plaques include hieroglyphs naming the person portrayed. The lack of royal titles in such inscriptions—and one example that refers to a youth—suggests that such plaques were made as gifts for young nobles who took a post called sajal, one rank below ajaw, lord.

Information

Title
Plaque depicting a seated lord
Dates

600–800 CE

Medium
Queen Conch (lobatus gigas) with (modern) red paint highlighting incisions
Dimensions
h. 11.5 cm., w. 5.8 cm., d. 0.8 cm. (4 1/2 x 2 5/16 x 5/16 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, Mary Trumbull Adams Art Fund and gift of Gillett G. Griffin
Object Number
2014-54
Place Excavated

North America, Mexico, Campeche, Maya area, Jaina Island or vicinity

Culture
Maya
Period
Late Classic
Type
ornament, costume accessories
Materials
paint, shell
Techniques
incising
Subject
men, noblemen, figures (representations)

<p> February 5, 1970, José Palomeque sold to Gillett G. Griffin (1928-2016), Princeton, NJ [1]; 2014, sold to the Princeton University Art Museum. </p> <p> Notes: <br> [1] According to Griffin’s Notebook 5-14. </p>

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