ancient maya

Seated with legs crossed, a Maya bird man gestures with his hands as he speaks. Nicolas Chavez Sojuel works in fragrant cedar wood to depict an image from the archaeological site of Palenque. Dating from the 8th century, the beautiful necropolis was the westernmost point in the ancient Maya empire. The original bird man was sculpted of terracotta and painted in shades of blue. It was discovered in Tomb One and is on display in the site museum.

The headdress is detachable for shipping.

A Maya woman sits with legs crossed as she works on a backstrap loom. Rocking back and forth she controls the tension as she creates an expanse of cloth. "This movement represented the human heartbeat, thus weaving was a sacred act for the ancient Maya, and weavers were considered the 'mothers of creation,'" Nicolas Chavez Sojuel explains. He works in fragrant cedar wood to depict his subject as realistically as did the pre-Hispanic ceramists of Jaina Island more than a thousand years ago in their "Female Figure with Loom." Deftly carving intricate details with superb realism, the Guatemalan artisan dresses the woman in a necklace of pinewood beads.

Guatemalan artisan Nicolas Chavez Sojuel designs a sculpture to depict a Mayan midwife standing atop a base, carving it by hand of cedar wood. Small details, such as the decorations on her clothing, the jewelry she wears, and her elaborate headdress are realized with a keen eye. In ancient Mayan society, Mayan noblewomen and midwives often wore decorative headdresses in order to accommodate enlarged craniums due to body alteration practices.

A Mayan noblewoman sits atop a base in this sculpture from Guatemala, hand-carved of cedar wood in the style of traditional Jaina-style sculptures. Jaina refers to a small island off the coast of Mexico where a collection of pre-Columbian carvings and sculptures were found. Guatemalan artisan Nicolas Chavez Sojuel emulates the Jaina style, adding cultural details to the subject, such as an enlarged cranium, scars across the cheeks, and small bulges on the left shoulder, indicative of ancient Mayan body alterations that were popular at the time.