Yaxchilan Lintel # 25 Poster

This is a low resolution image for the web. The print you'll get has sharp detail. Done in Sepia. Photography by Minerva Bloom. Maya, Late Classic period (AD 600-900) From Yaxchilán, Mexico. An ancient Maya city located on the Usumacinta River in what is now the state of Chiapas, Mexico. This limestone lintel is one of several monolithic, narrative, carved stelas spanning the temple doorways. This particular one of a series of three panels from Structure 23 at Yaxchilán, was originally set above the central doorway. The building was dedicated to Shield Jaguar II's wife, Lady K'ab'al Xook. It has particular significance since this was the first building to be constructed after a gap of over 150 years in the dynastic history of the city. It seems that the series of lintels was intended to convey a special message of the re-foundation of the site. Lady Xook, on the bottom right of the panel, is in the hallucinatory stage of the bloodletting ritual. She conjures before her a vision of a Teotihuacan serpent. Some scholars suggest that the serpent on this lintel, and elsewhere, are depictions of an ancestral spirit or founder of the kingdom. The identity of the figure coming out of the serpent's jaws is ambiguous. The inscription names the protagonist as Shield Jaguar II. The ritual is conducted to commemorate the accession of Shield Jaguar II to the throne. The inscription is reversed, as if to be read in a mirror. This is not common and its true significance is not known.