Iconography
based on a rollout of pre-Columbian polychrome Mayan vase
 This
8th century polychrome Mayan vase pictures bizarre cult dances and is
considered the most important painted Maya scene which remains in Guatemala,
Central America. Vase pictures naguals (wayob) animal spirit companions
such as jaguars. The iconography of the scene and the style of the Primary
Standard Sequence of hieroglyphs of this one vase is quite informative
for archaeologists and art historians.
Rollout of a section from the "Castillo
Bowl," the most important pre-Columbian Maya vase in the
museum collection. The entire
rollout is 14 feet long (over 4 meters long!).
This vase was first published in
1978 in TIKAL COPAN Guidebook by Nicholas Hellmuth. Since then it has
traveled around the world appearing at major international exhibits.
Due to the iconographic and epigraphic
importance of this bowl, it was deemed useful to do a precision rollout.
No stretch, no compression, computerized accuracy.
The Primary Standard Sequence (PSS)
of hieroglyphs around the rim includes the Tikal Emblem Glyph and the
name of Ruler A, the great king of Tikal who is buried under Temple
I.
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