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Maya artistic expression over a millennium ago reached the highest peaks of opulence and cultural refinement in the New World. Supported by a society of astonishing wealth and complexity, the ancient Maya rulers commissioned extraordinary works of art and architecture.
Written by leading authorities and including thirteen personal accounts of the latest ground-breaking research, COURTLY ART OF THE ANCIENT MAYA, examines the royal courts and their art in unprecedented depth. Color photographs and specially commissioned drawings reveal a dazzling array of objects that still have the power to engage and astonish observers centuries after their creation.
The Maya fashioned their society with a special emphasis on dynastic kingship, and eventually sixty or more fiercely competitive kingdoms dotted the landscape.
At the heart of each kingdom lay the royal court - a place of elegance and entertainment, sumptuously furnished within and splendidly decorated throughout. Maya rulers - as kings of the forest - sat on flayed jaguar skins and pelt cushions, surrounded by a coterie of swarves and hunchbacks, singers, drummers, and fan-beaters. The book investigates the rise in the importance of the court, its mythical backdrop, the role of women, and the place of warfare.
The works of artists and scribes -- ceramic censers, stucco heads, jade masks, terracotta figurines, stone boxes, and great carved limestone lintels - bring alive the form, texture, and color of their vanished world.
CONDITION: Hard Cover with Dust Jacket, used lightly - nice condition, 304 pages, 2004, 328 illustrations, 233 in color.
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