The Blood of Kings: Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art

Schele, Linda; Miller, Mary Ellen

ISBN 10: 080761159X / ISBN 13: 9780807611593

Published by George Braziller, Inc., New York, 1986

About this Item

[ix]-xii, 336 pp. Index. Printed upon glossy stock with 123 beautiful color plates, 50 black-and-white illustrations and 200 drawings. "Brings together new information about the history of Maya civilization, which rose, declined and fell long before the discovery of America by the Europeans. By making full use of the tremendous progress in deciphering the complicated Maya hieroglyphic code that has taken place since 1960, this groundbreaking work effectively penetrates the world and minds of the creators of Maya art. A landmark achievement that is sure to become the classic study of Precolumbian civilization in Mexico and Central America." - dust jacket. Gift greetings to top of half-title page otherwise book very clean, bright and unmarked with negligible wear to publisher's burgundy cloth. Average wear to dust jacket now preserved in glossy new archival-grade Brodart. A quality copy of this marvelous work.; 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall; Maya Art, Mayan Art, Mayan Rituals, Mayas - art, Mayas - social life and customs, Indians of Mexico - art, Indians of Mexico - social life and customs, Indians of Central America - art, Indians of Central America - social life and customs.

Seller Inventory # 53bh5762

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Blood of Kings: Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art
• Publisher: George Braziller, Inc., New York
• Publication Date: 1986
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 080761159X
• ISBN 13: 9780807611593
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Illustrated by Kerr, Justin
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Art
  • History
  • Latin America

About this title

Synopsis

xii + 335 pp. with many figs. & 123 color plates, 4to.

Reviews

Lavishly produced (with 122 color plates, 300 drawings and 50 black-and-white illustrations), this book, designed to accompany a traveling exhibition, is narrowly focused on the opulent lifestyle and ideology of the Maya ruling elite. Maya history is presented mainly in terms of the sumptuary art, dynastic succession and peculiar (sadomasochistic) courtly rituals of these aristocrats. Schele and Miller see as the keys to this civilization an underworld myth (the Popol Vuh) and grisly blood-letting and -taking ceremonies conducted in royal precincts, parade grounds, ball courts and battlefields, which are pictured on relief carvings and paintings. This interpretation is based on a new phonetic reading of Maya hieroglyphics that has gained ground since the 1960s, to which Schele has contributed heavily. She has come up with eyecatching decipherments of glyphs on monuments that identify the names, dates and some major eventsbirth, death, marriage, accession, the capture of enemiesin the lives of individual Maya kings. Much of this intriguing explication is clearly laid out in the text, captions and notes.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Though Maya script, symbolism, and mythology are not yet fully understood, research from the last 25 years is showing that the Maya, once seen as "simple" peaceful people, are now thought to have lived in rival city-states waging war to capture prisoners who were often sacrificed to enhance the power of rulers. This exhibition catalog is organized along eight themes that recur in Maya art. The 123 spectacular color plates, along with black-and-white photographs and 200 drawings, are intimately bound to the text: they are the pictorial representations of the sacred objects and places that imbued Maya political and religious life with meaning. The authors have built on important recent research to shed new light on the Maya code and symbolism; this is an important contribution to our understanding of the Classic Maya. Winfred Lambrecht, Anthropology Dept., Brown Univ.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.