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About ten years ago, when I took my ¤rst undergraduate course in Precolumbian art, I recall seeing for the ¤rst time Alfred P. Maudslay’s photographs of Quirigua sculpture that were reprinted in Michael Coe’s (1987) textbook The Maya. Like many before me, I was impressed by the grandeur of the monuments as well as by their rich iconography and wondered whether there might be some way to decode this imagery in order to understand better these great works of art. A few years later, while attending Linda Schele’s 1989 workshop on Copan, the answer came to me. As Linda explained the texts of Waxaklajun Ub’ah K’awil’s (18-Rabbit ’s) great stelae, I realized that hieroglyphic texts could be used as a basis for interpreting iconography. Later work with Linda as a graduate student reinforced this methodology and prepared me for my work at Quirigua. This chapter presents interpretations of the iconography of one of the most impressive works of Maya art known: Zoomorph P at Quirigua. In her 1983 dissertation and subsequent article, Andrea Stone (1983, 1985) interpreted Zoomorph P and related monuments at Quirigua as cosmic diagrams, conceptualized as realms and images of creation. In the present chapter, I attempt to explore this idea through analyses of the monument’s texts and iconography in light of recent reconstructions of Classic Maya mythology of cosmogenesis in which Linda Schele served as the fulcrum. This study points to the richness of the zoomorphs of Quirigua as epigraphic and iconographic sources and suggests that, like medieval sculpture programs, their imagery may be repeatedly analyzed , each time revealing new insights. As one of the largest, best-preserved, and most elaborately carved monuments at Quirigua, Zoomorph P inspires awe today, as it has since its discovery by 11 Quirigua Zoomorph P A Water Throne and Mountain of Creation Matthew G. Looper Frederick Catherwood in 1840 (Figure 11.1). A sandstone boulder measuring 3 meters long, 3.5 meters wide, and 2.2 meters high, the sculpture was set in place on a low terrace on the southern side of the Ballcourt Plaza, adjacent to the acropolis. Its foundation consists of three huge stone slabs. The front face of the sculpture faces northward, toward the ballcourt. In front of Zoomorph P lies a large (3.6 meters long) and ®at (0.5 meters thick) sandstone monument known as Altar P’, discovered in 1934 (Morley 1935:107–108). Both of the monuments were dedicated by the king known as Sky Xul, the ¤fteenth ruler of Quirigua, to celebrate the 9.18.10.0.0 period-ending (September 15, c.e. 795) (Stone 1983:38). Stylistically, the zoomorph and its altar are typical of late Quirigua sculpture, which feature little undercutting and minimal de¤nition of form by mass. Instead , extremely elaborate, often interlocking calligraphic shapes play across the stones’ surfaces. The super¤cial emphasis of the sculpture is especially prominent in Altar P’, in which forms wrap abruptly from the upper surface to the sides of the monument. Although teams of sculptors doubtlessly worked on both of these monuments, the uniform treatment of each sculpture suggests that its carving was closely overseen by a master. The somewhat rougher execution of Altar P’ relative to Zoomorph P , however, suggests that either each monument was executed by a different workshop or that more highly skilled artists were concentrated on the zoomorph. Unfortunately, no sculptors’ signatures are preserved on the monument, so the artists remain anonymous. The dedication text for Zoomorph P is inscribed on the sculpture’s south face in several panels (Figure 11.2). It begins with the date 9.18.5.0.0 4 Ajaw 13 Kej, followed by a complex dedication sequence. The clearest portion of this passage begins at C4a, naming the monument as a “4 Ajaw stone,” followed by a dedication verb. The next few signs (C5b-D9a) seem to refer to the monument as a “13 Kawak building” (Grube et al. 1991:109) and as the kuch, or “seat.” The reading of the T178 compound as kuch, “seat, container,” is based on a decipherment by Barbara MacLeod (personal communication 1993). In its appearance on Zoomorph P , as elsewhere, T178 is super¤xed to a sign that I interpret as a con®ated ku and the “breasts” sign that is probably a chu syllable (C6a, C8b). This combination of signs may function as a phonetic spelling for the T178 logograph.1 As in other examples, the collocation...

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