Biologia Centrali-Americana, or, Contributions to the knowledge of the fauna and flora of Mexico and Central America . important, and before commencing a detailed description of the monumentsit is thought advisable to give a few examples (Plates XXIII. and XXIV.) of the manyvarieties of ornament derived from the serpents head and the scroll-work attached to are, so far as I have observed, no really natural representations of a serpentto be found in the Central-American sculptures. Serpent-worship had probably long-antedated the development of Central-American art into the condition in
Biologia Centrali-Americana, or, Contributions to the knowledge of the fauna and flora of Mexico and Central America . important, and before commencing a detailed description of the monumentsit is thought advisable to give a few examples (Plates XXIII. and XXIV.) of the manyvarieties of ornament derived from the serpents head and the scroll-work attached to are, so far as I have observed, no really natural representations of a serpentto be found in the Central-American sculptures. Serpent-worship had probably long-antedated the development of Central-American art into the condition in which anyexamples of it remain to us, and the serpents of the sculptures have already passedthrough a stage of exaggeration and conventionalism. Small heads of snakes drawnnaturally may, however, be seen throughout the period of the greatest exaggerationattached as ornaments to the ends of stringa or narrow bands, such as the thongs of asandal, or the bands of the breastplates in Plate VIII.; but in this particular case therattles of the tail are drawn as a conventional ornament at the sides of the Stone Mask fhom Mexico, now in tee British Museum. /2 36 COPAN. Stela A. (Plates XXV. to XXX., see also Plate IV., a and b.)[Compare Stephenss Central America, vol. i. p. 158.] Height 11 feet 6 inches. Average breadth 3 feet *. This monument (A, Plate I.) stands in the Great Plaza on the north side of thedetached mound (No. 4, Plate I.) and faces the east. As is usually the case, the baseof the monument has been surrounded by four large blocks of stone, now somewhatbroken and displaced. A portion of the sculpture on the lower part of the monumenthas been damaged by fire, and the surface of the stone has flaked off, but the rest ofthe carving, although considerably weatherworn, is in a fair state of preservation. The want of proper proportion in the representation of the human body is con-spicuous in the principal figure carved on the front of this Stela. The body is fa
Size: 1248px × 2002px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., booksubjectindians, booksubjectindiansofmexico, booksubjectmayas
