Allure of the Sea

Maya lady from the eastern coast of Yucatán, 15~16th century

The Maya civilization prospered for thousands of years by adapting to a variety of geographical conditions, from the humid lowlands of the Yucatán Peninsula to the chilly highlands of Guatemala. The coastal Maya also thrived for a long time with fishing and trading. 

It was this eastern coast of Yucatán where the Spanish conquistadors first arrived on their way to the mainland. In 1518, following the coast in front of Cozumel, Juan de Grijalva found three towns that "were many stone houses and very large towers, and numerous thatched houses". That same day, they arrived at "a beach next to a tower, which was the highest we had seen. There was a very large city (Tulum) as well...so large that the city of Seville could not seem bigger or better."

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This artwork depicts a Maya noblewoman on the eastern coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in the late Postclassic period (1450~1697). Her overall appearance is based on few surviving pre-Hispanic Maya codices and the account of fray Diego de Landa. For variety, I drew three versions.

Fray Diego de Landa describes the clothing worn by coastal Maya women as follows: "besides the skirt which they wear from the waist down, they cover the breasts with a double mantle fastened below the armpits." Both the skirt and the wrap-around dress were made of rectangular cloth that was wrapped around the body and then tied or tucked. The flowery pattern of the woman's dress in the artwork is based on Codex Dresden. The skirt is based on Codex Madrid.

However, it was also common for adult Maya women to go bare-breasted. They did this by just wearing a skirt. Going topless for comfort in daily activities was commonplace among women living in all parts of the hot lowlands. Even to the 20th century, going out bare-breasted was common in several Maya towns.

In addition, when going to the market or traveling, a rectangular headcloth was sometimes worn to protect from the powerful sunlight of the coast.

Fray Landa describes the ornaments worn by coastal Maya women as follows: "They pierce the cartilage of the nose within, to take a stone of amber for adornment. They also pierce the ears for rings, (...) they tattoo the body from the waist up, leaving the breasts for nursing reasons, the patterns being more delicate and beautiful than those of the men. (...) They wear the hair very long, which they used to and still do arrange in very fine tresses, parted in two parts, and made use of to build up the coiffure."

Considering this account, I drew the tattoo and red ointment on her body. The jade earplug, noseplug and bracelet, painted shell and bead necklace, gold bells (which was originally depicted as an anklet in the codex, but I used its design for puma lady's tail ornament!) are all based on aforementioned codices.

The background is inspired by murals in Tulum, which is situated on 12m-high cliffs along the east coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. The mural of Tulum were made under the influence of the Mixtec-Puebla tradition, which is also called 'Postclassic International Style'. This new kind of artstyle was invented in the multiethnic metropolis of Cholula around AD 1000, and it rapidly spread to the entire Mesoamerica during the late Postclassic period.  It demonstrates that by the Postclassic period, cultural exchange between the Maya region and other parts of Mesoamerica had grown significantly.

The blue-dominated mural of Tulum appears to be very unique, as most Mesoamerican murals use warmer colors such as red and yellow. This kind of blue mural can also be found in other coastal Yucatan sites, such as La Casa Azul at Rancho Ina.

The T-shaped window is a distinctive feature of Maya architecture. Because most Mesoamerican buildings lacked windows, most light came in through the front entrance. Some Maya palaces, on the other hand, had windows in various shapes such as T-shaped, cross-shaped, and rectangular shaped ones.

Lastly, the flower placed at the window is from a ziricote tree (Cordia dodecandra), which is native to southern Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. This flower is the state flower of Quintana Roo, the state in which Tulum is located.

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Sources

· Codex Dresden (1200-1250)

· Codex Madrid (1300s)

· Mural of Tulum (1400s)

· Juan Díaz, "Itinerario de la armada" (1520)

· Diego de Landa, "Relación de las cosas de Yucatan" (1566)

· Arthur G. Miller, "On The Edge Of The Sea: Mural painting at Tancah-Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico" (1982)

· Luis Alberto Martos L, 'La Costa Oriental de Quintana Roo', "Arqueología Mexicana", vol. 54, pp. 26-33. (2002)

· Paul Sullivan, 'Tulum. Umbral entre dos mundos', "Arqueología Mexicana", vol. 54, pp. 56-59. (2002)

· Pablo Escalante Gonzalbo, Saeko Yanagisawa, 'Tulum, Quintana Roo, y Santa Rita Corozal, Belice. Pintura mural', "Arqueología Mexicana", vol. 93, pp. 60-65. (2008)

· Andrea J. Stone, 'Keeping Abreast of the Maya: A Study of the Female Body in Maya Art', "Ancient Mesoamerica" vol.22, pp. 167~183. (2011)

· Daniel Parada, "Lowland Maya Postclassic fashion" (2020)