Of unknown origin, but because of the delicacy of the forms and the style it could come from Palenque. Modeled in stucco, the face of the character, most likely a ruler, presents the classic features of Mayan art of the Usumacinta region and Palenque. In fact, the design of a face so oblique, with the start of the nose overly pronounced on the forehead, right where the flattening produced by the oblique tabular cephalic modeling begins, are characteristic of the Palenque faces. The stepped haircut and headdress were also used by the kings of Palenque.
The entire sculpture is loaded with symbolism; the maya rarely represented purely decorative elements. Each of the components forming headdresses, breastplates and clothing in general had their own symbols, allowing the ruler to be linked with the supernatural power of the object. They used to represent gods or supernatural entities, as seen in the elaborate headdress of this piece. From bottom to top they are recognized on both sides and symmetrically two circular earrings seen from the front and tied with a double knot. Above them, supernatural entities in profile, knots and other knotted earrings corresponding to the faces that make up the headdress.
The top of the headdress is crowned by a band of plates with small hanging ornaments and which bears in the center the head of a supernatural being. On top of this is modeled a full bodied frontal character that is fractured and has lost his head. Although not shown in the image, the actual band would tie in the back, and the flaming or vegetable elements that are seen at the sides would correspond with the end of the tied band. A grid-shaped ornament at the top that intertwines and ends in profile heads of supernatural beings with open mouths from which the faces of other characters emerge, finishes the top of the entire complex iconographic motif of this image.
These figures with open mouths used to be represented by snakes linked to the god K'awiil, a god who was invoked to or communicate with ancestors or gods who would precisely come out of the mouth of the snake. We also have to add that the head of the dignitary rests on the upper part of the face of a cat, recognizable by the ears, snout and fangs that Mayan artists recreated in a spiral to give greater effectiveness to its fierceness. On both sides of feline the profile of two deities were modeled.
Of unknown origin, but because of the delicacy of the forms and the style it could come from Palenque. Modeled in stucco, the face of the character, most likely a ruler, presents the classic features of Mayan art of the Usumacinta region and Palenque. In fact, the design of a face so oblique, with the start of the nose overly pronounced on the forehead, right where the flattening produced by the oblique tabular cephalic modeling begins, are characteristic of the Palenque faces. The stepped haircut and headdress were also used by the kings of Palenque.
