Monument of unknown origin, sculpted in limestone in the round with two personages and one deity in the center. It also shows glyphic texts. As has been considered to this point, it is probable that this monument formed a part of the backrest of a royal throne or bench; the place where Mayan kings received their subjects. During the Late Classic the great sculptors of the city of Piedras Negras reproduced courtesan scenes in which luxurious thrones were shown. They must have been especially virtuous wielding their chisels, for given their prestige they were granted the privilege of g their works. In some of them there are up to twelve signatures of sculptors, which indicates that of one same school or workshop participated in large volume monuments instead of individual authors.
The recreation that M. Louise Baker made of 3 of Piedras Negras offers a very representative scene of court in which the ruler is sitting in an elaborate and reclined throne while he receives his allies and subjects with the purpose of celebrate a festivity (Drawing 2). A complete throne whose backrest presents two personages facing each other in a way that is similar to that of the personages of the Amparo museum are also from Piedras Negras, although its design is more simple. It is currently in the Museo de la Aurora of the city of Guatemala (Drawing 3).
Observing the general design of the monument of the Amparo Museum and comparing it with the recovered throne from the city of Piedras Negras, it could be assumed that both proceed from the same kingdom or at least from the same region. We clarify to the reader that in spite of the fact that there are many representations of royal benches and thrones that are known for the courtesan scenes reproduced in classic vessels, there are very few pieces of furniture with these characteristics recovered from archaeological sites, for which we have only few examples to compare them with.
This throne´s backrest is one of a kind, a piece of extraordinary beauty that manifests the virtuosity of the sculptor that created it. The artist thoroughly recreates each one of the bodily details and adornments of the personages that participate in this mythical event. This backrest has been analyzed by several authors from the iconographic and epigraphic perspective, among them, Mary Miller and Simon Martin in 2004, and Marc Zender. The throne represents a scene with two personages conversing in the presence of a winged being, which grants the scene a supernatural nature. The Mayan artists had certain aesthetic cannons that apply invariably in the narratives where several personages participated.
Thus, the personage of higher rank, generally the ruler or Ajaw, tended to be located on the right side, while in front of it on the left side of the scene were its spokespersons, as occurs in this monument. In a boast of virtuosity and creativity, the sculptor organizes the figures in a closed composition seen by the semi-circle that the bodies of the protagonists and the faces staring at each other form. Only the frontal body of the main personage creates a foreshortening and opens the composition, inviting the spectator to participate in the recreated event.
The ruler is sitting in an oriental manner with his body facing forward and his head to the side looking at those accompanying him. His hair is done in locks and is tied in the front, falling forward. If the hair locks are observed in detail, it can be seen that each one of them is adorned with circular beads placed in line. At the same time, all the hair is bound by a headdress that adorns the backside of the head. This headdress is composed of a flower covered by a bundle of feathers, which incorporates the sign of night and mirror, the main distinctive attribute of the god Itzamnaah, also known as god D of the codices. Itzamnaah was considered the god of wisdom, the most important of the Mayan vault and the inventor of scripture.
During the Classic the Mayan rulers were shown with the main attributes of the gods. They emulated or represented them in this manner, perhaps with the intention of making their qualities theirs. We can observe how the ruler, in addition to the headdress, has a bone with a carved tip fastened to his hair, perhaps a utensil used to carve or write, further highlighting its his connection to Itzamnaah, the creator of scripture.
The personage´s face is deteriorated, and part of the nose, the cheekbone and the ear are lost, but even so the thoroughness and fine detail of the sculptor can be seen. The view from the front is very marked by the oblique, tabular cephalic modeling, which the Mayas exaggerated even more incorporating a curved adornment on the upper part of the nose. The personage´s face shows scarification in the form of scrolls on the cheek, and in the form of volutes on the forehead and the nose. The personage also has a mustache indicated by fine lines of facial hair that mark the contour of the upper lip up to its corners, and below the chin there is a straight cut goatee. The sculptor wanted to highlight the thoroughness of the pectorals, as well as the relaxed and careless posture that many Mayan rulers show in a situation of reception of tribute or visits from vassals and allies. In addition, by the position of the arms resting on the legs, and the body slightly inclined forward, it would be said that the ruler dialogues with the other personages of the scene.
The personage sitting in the center is a winged deity that, as Zender recognizes, could act as a messenger of Itzamnaah, as is noted in several classic cups. As Miller and Martin point out (2004 this personage is also known in other scenes as a tree (TE’) which is known as Pax, because the face of this entity is used as the head of the month Paax or Paaxil. (Drawings 4, 5 and 6. Cups K7821, K4013 and K 1226); are represented as a face with no lower jaw, from whose mouth a vegetable form emerges with the sign of a cross of San Andrés inside. When it appears in the form of a tree, it tends to have a jaguar claw as one of its ears and it personifies a type of mythical tree related to the cardinal sector of the east. A glyph sign recognizable also on the nose of the deity of the throne tends to be placed by its nose.
The throne was sectioned down the middle, the cut ing precisely through the center of the deity Pax, which produced the loss of part of the face. In spite of the damage caused to this monument, one can still glimpse the square eye pertaining to Mayan divinities, the vegetable element sprouting from the mouth, the circular earring with a tubular cap and the hair in rolled locks at the neck and down on the back. On the back the closure of beads of a necklace that is covered on the backside by the position of crossed arms on the chest is also recognized. The folded wing that would allude to its role as a messenger is seen below the arm. Both its arms, its back and its legs are decorated with the sign of gloss, an icon of light, radiance and reflection that supernatural beings wore and which distinguished them from the rest of the mortals.
The personage on the left is a woman with a deteriorated profile, as with her spokesperson, a notable oblique tabulation also being noted on the forehead in spite of the nose being lost. Her hair is worn in rolled locks bound by a ribbon on the upper part of the head and knotted on the lower part, allowing the ribbons of the knot behind the hair and a bundle of feathers that adorn it to be seen. In this case it preserves the ear but has lost the earring. The side view position of his personage seems to wrap and protect Pax. Her right arm rests lightly on her knee while her closed hand rests on the ground. The other hand rests of the back of the god. Both dolls are adorned by bracelets or wristbands of similar craftsmanship as those worn by the ruler. This personage is covered with a loin cloth that is tied on the lateral part of the waist, covers up to the middle of the thigh and is crowned by a double fringe ornament.
This entire scene is framed in a rectangle formed by a succession of anthropomorphic faces decorated with signs tun, “stone” and vegetable elements that are woven with glyphic texts. This was the standardized form in the Mayan art of representing mythical hills. Curiously, this mythical hill is in many cases associated with Itzamnaah and the god Pax or Paaxil. It coincides that Paaxil is the name of the mythical hill mentioned in the Popol Vuh as the place where the corn seed was extracted. A hill that would be located in the cardinal sector of the east. The majority of the vessels that present the narrative sequence of the mythical hill associated with the Pax tree, which a baby with jaguar attributes is thrown at, coincide in the date of the month Paax as the time chosen to carry out this ritual.
It should be added to this that one of the gods from the Pre-Classic period appears in the representations associated with the Pax tree is Itzamnaah in its avian form. The last intention of the artist that created this sculptural program was most likely to create a mythological age set in this mythical hill from which the Pas or Paaxil tree sprouts. Therefore, it seems that everything converges in this representation. On one hand, the entire scene is developed in a mythical hill, for it is the chosen frame to set the scene. On the other hand, the presence of a winged Pax or Paaxil could allude to its dual function, that of a messenger of the gods, as appears in a vessel of the Classic, as well as the tree that springs from this mythical hill, probably the same from which the grain of corn was extracted. For his part, the ruler with the headdress of Itzamnaah would be emulating the god in the mythical age in which the hill, the Pax tree and Itzamnaah converge in the form of a bird.
