ancient maya

Memories from ancestors offer a glimpse of the Mayan grandeur. Oil and liquid glass allow Guatemalan artist Carolina Cabrera to capture the country's pride in the ancient Maya world, paying homage to her heritage. The artist adds a symbolic message through the diverse elements composing this expressionist painting. The man at the centre represents Guatemala's people, whereas the fuming candles appear to create a symphony of colours that depict the Maya's cultural richness.

The piece, titled Ritual Maya in Spanish, arrives signed and stretched.

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.

For ancient Mayan cultures, astronomy was an extremely important facet of everyday life, integrated with both the writing and numeral systems present at the time, resulting in some of the most accurate astronomy before the advent of telescopes. Artisans from the Angel Cerón Artisan Association are proud to present this ceramic sculpture, depicting a Mayan astronomer in full regalia. Featuring beautiful hand-painted colors, this sculpture brings a slice of Mayan culture to any home.

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.