By ANA FERNANDEZ
What were the Mayan gods like? In the culture of this Mesoamerican people, the divinities were represented at all stages of their lives. And when they faded, they could be reborn again, as a sign of regeneration and resilience.
The exhibition “The lives of the gods: divinity in Mayan art”, open to the public until April 2, 2023 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (Met), tries to explain through a hundred works the life cycle of these deities from birth to their transformation, sometimes turned into fearsome creatures of the night.
Mayan sculptures that are part of the expo at the Met in New York / AFP
Created by masters of the Classic period (AD 250–900) who lived in royal cities in the tropical forests of Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, these sculptures “evoke a world in which the realms of the divine, the human, and the natural intertwine.” and intertwine”, say the curators.
The exhibition, with pieces from European, Latin American and American museums, as well as others recently discovered in Palenque (Mexico) and from the archaeological center of El Zotz (Guatemala), is an invitation to “experience the profound and stimulating power of Mayan visual art says Max Hollein, director of the Met.
“These Mayan artists drew on inspiration to shape the gods, through extraordinary works of great visual complexity and aesthetic refinement,” explains Joanne Pillsbury, curator of ancient American art at the Met.
The ceramics reveal the hectic lives of the gods in great detail.
The exhibition on Mayan art consists of about 100 pieces / AFP
GODS AND KINGS
The sculptures and vessels in the exhibition also show the intimate relationship between Mayan royalty and the gods, as well as the role of religion in the exercise of political authority of this people.
“In the hieroglyphic texts, the kings appear acting ‘in the company’ of the gods, they belong to them,” says Yale University anthropologist Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos, advisor to the exhibition.
“Kings were not considered as divine beings in themselves but, after death, they were represented as beings comparable to the gods, for example, they were portrayed with the attributes of the sun god and the moon goddess (in the case of the queens deceased)”, he assures.
Sculptures and vessels reveal the intimate relationship between Mayan royalty and the gods
The sculptures were believed to embody the power and presence of the divine, and jade, shell, and obsidian ornaments adorned kings and queens and symbolically connected them to supernatural forces.
The exhibition also explores the origin of the world, the balance between the gods of the day, such as the sun god K’inich, and those of the night, such as the god Jaguar, and the role of the scribes.
The sun was associated with the forces that give life. Rulers who identified especially with this power often added the title K’inich to their names.
The expo explores the origin of the world and the balance between the gods of day and night
The Maya venerated the rain gods, fundamental for the well-being of the communities, such as the powerful Chahk, or the god of lightning, fertility and abundance, K’awiil.
The god of maize, the staple of their diet, was represented as an eternally young and graceful being, who was associated with two of the most valuable elements in their economy: jade and cocoa.
WORKS WITH SIGNATURE
Only four of the books created during the pre-Hispanic period have reached our days. However, the texts that still survive on sculptures and ceramics allow us to understand the alliances, conquests and spiritual beliefs of the Classic Maya era, the curators say.
Another peculiarity of Mayan artists is that they signed their works, as has been discovered thanks to recent advances in the study of Mayan hieroglyphic writing.
The exhibition includes four works by identified individuals – such as “Royal Woman Panel” (795) by K’in Lakam Chahk and Jun Nat Omootz, and “King Yuknoom Took’ K’awiil Stela 51” (731). , from Sak[…] Yuk[…] Took’ y Sak […] Yib’ah Tzak B’ahlam, as well as other examples that can be attributed to well-known Maya painters.
