About this 3D model

This limestone column, carved in medium relief, depicts an ornately dressed individual and a dwarf. The central figure is most likely a Maya ruler, and he wears an enormous tiered headdress with feathers splaying to the tops and sides of the column. He also wears a collar with three images of human heads, and a long beaded necklace. In his right hand, he carries a hooked blade, and his left arm is hidden behind a shield with a central knotted element. Most of his body is covered by a long apron made of square mosaic elements, and he wears high-backed sandals on his feet. On the right side of the monument stands a dwarf who wears a columnar headdress and large earflare assemblages, or ornaments worn in the earlobe (see 1994.35.591a, b for an example of an earflare set, and 1979.206.1047 for individuals wearing earflare assemblages). Carved columns are not common in ancient Maya art, but they do appear in the Puuc region of the Yucatan Peninsula in the eighth and ninth centuries AD. Another column in the Worcester Art Museum in Massachusetts—also depicting a standing ruler with dwarves—is thought to be the pair to this column; together, the two columns probably flanked a doorway. The doorway was most likely topped by a carved lintel, which depicted two seated individuals on either side of a deity face from which water lilies emerge. The unfinished and irregular rear portion of the column suggests it may have been embedded in a wall rather than freestanding. In its original setting, this column would have been visible to people outside and entering the building, which was probably a long, low range building common in the Puuc region. The column would originally have been brightly colored, and the remains of red pigment are still visible on the ruler’s face. The costume and accessories of the ruler refer to themes of warfare, sacrifice, and agricultural fertility. The ruler wears an enormous headdress that represents a monstrous zoomorphic head. Two central rosettes are stacked above the ruler’s head. From the upper rosette, a trapezoidal element emerges; this is the monster’s nose, and on either side of it are its eyes, with curlicue pupils. Two curved fangs are located between the upper and lower rosettes. Although there is no lower jaw on this headdress, similar headdresses on other monuments do include a lower jaw, and ancient viewers of this monument would have understood the ruler’s head as emerging from the mouth of the monster. The square plaques of the mosaic apron were probably meant to represent jade. Jade plaques also appear on the top part of the headdress between the upper and lower rosette. This headdress is derived from a motif known as the War Serpent headdress. Originally from the great Central Mexican city of Teotihuacan, the War Serpent headdress was adopted by Maya leaders beginning around 400 A.D., when Teotihuacan influence spread through the central Maya area. Classic Maya rulers wore the War Serpent headdress as a sign of military strength and to associate themselves with powerful "outsider" forces. By the time this column was carved, probably in the ninth century A.D., the headdress was a common motif that may not have been explicitly associated with Teotihuacan. That this headdress was still associated with warfare, however, is indicated by the objects the ruler carries in his hands. The obsidian blade in the ruler’s right hand is shown as a hooked implement. Similar objects are carried by rulers on other monuments from this part of the Maya world, including the column in the Worcester Art Museum (see 1978.412.195 for an elaborate figural obsidian blade). The blade carries multiple meanings. It may refer to the rain god, Chahk, who uses an axe to break the clouds and make rain. Ensuring the continuation and fertility of agricultural cycles was one of the central duties of Maya rulers; wielding an axe, then, refers to this important role. The obsidian weapon may also be a sacrificial blade. On similar columns from the Puuc region, including columns from Sayil Structure 4B and an unprovenanced column in the Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin, rulers carry sacrificial blades with globular objects at the tip that may represent human hearts. These blades emphasize military sacrifice as one of the important duties of Maya kings. In the ruler’s left hand—presumably, since we cannot see the hand itself—is a shield. The central design in the shield is made up of crossed bands that may relate to the woven mat symbol, associated with authority and the right to rule. Other elements of this ruler’s costume point to an interest in lineage. The ruler’s collar features one frontal head, facing toward the viewer, with three dangling celts (see Celt 1994.35.356). An additional head, in profile, adorns each shoulder (the head on the left is less visible due to damage to the monument). Maya rulers often wore the names or visages of their ancestors in their costumes, physically linking themselves to their ro