Mayan Art Megathread

So this week I discovered the slann are real.



"frog" creature on vase.

 

That is so incredibly cool!

 

I know right?! Didn't expect it!

Also just found this one in the time it took me to make this post. This one is a lot more fat though...

 

The fat one must be fourth generation. Damn lazy kids! Haha! These are brilliant finds! Really interesting and just makes the lizardmen army even better in my mind!

 

I once had to research frogs as symbols of art for my art lessons and I found out that Mayans considered frogs powerful magicians whose power had been given by the moon. That provably is why slanns look like frogs.

 

That's interesting... that could very well be the inspiration that GW drew from when designing the Slann.

 

Interesting I will have to find this somewhere!

I would be curious to see if this is where this comes from!

Also since in medieval times, frogs and snakes were often considered evil creatures (dealing with witchcraft or the works of the devil, think the talking snake and the apple, plague of frogs, evil biblical references and stuff). This could make for an interesting dynamic between the people of the Empire or Bretonnia, who in their limited perspective on the history of the world would consider the Lizardmen the scions of Chaos

 

The Warhammer world is cobbled together from all sorts of historical inspirations, so I wouldn't be surprised.

 

More Mayan vases, this time these are carved. Not sure exactly how they made them, but I love the intricate designs.

Spoiler: Mayan Vases- carved

That last one is particularly intricate, from the headdresses of the seated lords to the glyphs around the top bar.

 

One of the most well-known (and rare) Mayan wood carvings still in existence! It depicts a seated mustachioed dwarf with his arms folded in front of him.



Here are two pictures of it that I took myself! The carving is currently on display in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (in NYC).

Spoiler: On display at the MET

According to the description, the carving was actually a mirror-bearer in some royal personage's court, probably used to create auguries/used for divination. Mayan mirrors were normally made out of shiny, polished slabs of pyrite.

Spoiler: Museum Description

 

Mayan Bats

Bats figure fairly often in Mayan imagery. I briefly mentioned the creature known as the "camazotz" in my lore blog; it apparently was a mythical creature that looked like a giant bat, that would swoop down and decapitate its prey. Often humans.



I liked the above one. The ears were probably more impressive when it was first made, they are almost completely broken off above the earring-flares now.

There also was an bat featured in Mayan mythology who fights against the Hero Twins, it winds up decapitating one of them when they come out from hiding. But the twins survive somehow of course.

Spoiler: More Mayan Bats

Bats are sometimes used in glyphs, and are a prominent symbol in the city-glyph for Copan.

Spoiler: Bat Glyphs

Bat Glyph:


Copan Glyph:

Also came across this gem, titled "if Batman were a Mayan God."

Spoiler: Mayan Batman

Not ancient art at all, but really well done! I bet he would speak with a really deep raspy voice.

 

^ attachments broke.

 

Was just going to make the joke of batman being a mayan idol!!

 

Once again I have been defeated by my computer! The pics should be good now...

 

Computers tend to do that... we've all been there.

 

Murals of Bonampak

Some of the best preserved examples of Mayan art still in existence. When they were discovered they helped preserve the myth that the Mayans were just a bunch of peaceful, priest loving astronomers. Murals show a the coronation celebration of the king, a victorious battle (probably the greatest battle scene in all Mayan art), and sacrificing the captives/bloodletting ceremonies afterwards.

Yajaw Chan Muwaan, king of Bonampak, taking captives.



Trumpeters and performers, with dangers in crazy costumes, dressed like CRAB PEOPLE:

Spoiler: Bonampak Murals

More performers/members in a procession:


Close up of Yajaw Chan Muwaan


Battle Scene:

Much of the original paint still remains, thanks to that scholars/artists have been able to do a great deal of refurbishing/enhancement. Somewhere their is a reproduced copy of the murals, at some point I hope to visit!

Spoiler: Bonampak Mural reproduction

Original:


Enhanced Reproduction:

 

Murals of San Bartolo

Another famous set of Mayan murals, these are characterized by the striking red-black combination of paints.

Head of a Mayan god, not sure which one. I am not going to post a close up of his entire figure here, he is conducting a bloodletting ritual from a rather sensitive area. Bloodletting was a big part of Mayan rituals because of its "life giving" nature.


Murals in their current state today:


Thanks to some extensive research, mayanists have been able to reconstruct a great deal about the murals. Overall they seem to be depicting the epic lifecycle of the Maize god; birth, death, and rebirth again.

Spoiler: San Bartolo Murals details

The above pictures were all taken from this website: Expanded Notes and Research on the San Bartolo MuralsTHE PROPHECY OF THE FIFTH WORLD

Just a couple more interesting pictures.

Spoiler: San Bartolo Murals

Bird:





detail:

 

More hieroglyphs!

This first one is the symbol for "winal," a set of 20 days in the Mayan calendar.



Full glyphs take up much more space than regular glyphs, are were only used on exceptionally important monuments when the ruler/artist really wanted to get his point across.

Regular glyph, and in color!


Found from an interesting site with lots of good information on the Mayan calendar.

Edit: also looks like a baby slann.

 

And a few more interesting glyphs.

Collection of Mayan words:

Spoiler: GlyphArt

Wallpaper courtesy of ikarusmedia.

 

Last glyph art for today.

Some useful words: colors, directions, and some relationships.


Interesting note that I am sure I wrote on this thread somewhere else, the Mayans had the same name for the colors blue and green, yax. Not sure why, but I am guessing it may be because many of the rivers in that part of the world are green.

Plus, found a very interesting summary of how the Mayan calendar works on Pinterest:

Spoiler: Mayan Calendar