Nineteenth-Century Drawings of Maya Monuments in the Society's Library

Abstract

SummaryFifteen drawings of Maya carvings presented to to the Society's Library in 1854 depict stone stelae and wooden lintels from Tikal, Guatemala, stelae from Ixkun and Ixtutz, Guatemala, and a temple at Tikal. Thirteen of the drawings can be assigned to specific monuments with certainty and the other two with some probability. Examination of the paper and other details suggests that the drawings are copies from lost originals, except for two drawings which may themselves be original. Annotations on the drawings are probably by Modesto Méndez, leader of the expeditions which explored the sites in 1848 and 1852. The drawings of Tikal were originally by Eusebio Lara, while those of Ixkun and Ixtutz may be by another artist.

These Are Our Mountains Now: Statecraft and the Foundation of a Late Classic Maya Royal Court

“…Soon after, looters damaged several of them, breaking up Stelae 6 and 9 and sawing away the uppermost panel of Stela 1 (Laporte and Mejía 2006:5). Ixkun was first described in print in a German article (Ritter 1853) recounting a visit by Colonel Modesto Méndez, the departmental Corregidor for Petén, and an artist, perhaps Eusebio Lara, who drew a just-recognizable rendition of Ixkun Stela 1 (Ritter 1853:Plate 10; see Hammond 1984:96). In 1887, Maudslay (1889–1902:vol.…”