Overview

"Mass production in ancient Mesoamerica - Maya Mold Made presents a collection of 208 ancient clay figurine molds from the late Maya Classic period (ca. AD 730-830), once employed in the mass-manufacture of musical figurines for ceremonial use, now in the collection of the Ruta Maya Foundation in Guatemala. More than a descriptive record of significant rare artifacts, the book exhibits an unexamined chapter of Classic Maya life, and brings it to life with realistic virtual restorations of now-lost mold-made objects in images uniquely created by digital photo-capture of a compelling high-relief optical effect known as the hollow-face or hollow-mask illusion, with no harm done to the molds. The result reveals never-before-seen examples of a popular Maya art that allows us today to feel a direct human connection with the remarkable people that made them more than a millennium ago - small ceramic figures, sometimes called ""Jaina"" figurines, that depict many aspects of daily life in that ancient time, both royal and mundane. Archaeological evidence shows they played a role in the ritual practices of all levels of Maya society. How was this demand met and how could such engaging art be made affordable to the common people as well as the royal elite? The molds in this collection provide an answer: economy of scale. They were mass-produced, manufactured in vast numbers. In 448 pages richly illustrated with over 800 color photos and illustrations, the book describes the development, technology, and societal role of the ancient Maya's figurine industry. The iconographic analysis of objects in its catalog core is supported further in appendices of supplementary text and photo references. It is one of only a few books in ancient popular Maya art and its industrial production Created for all enthusiasts of Maya art and culture, from students to scholars."

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9780982682630

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Reviews

- This book is a true gem, a thorough scholarly study by Mark Van Stone of a largely neglected body of artifacts, Classic period Maya molds, and, by means of the magical virtual photographs of Paul Johnson, the hundreds of mostly lost ceramic figurines once created by them... - Cecelia F. Klein, Professor Emerita of Art History, University of California, Los Angeles - Vast and critical compendium of the Maya ceramic figurine tradition, largely unpublished before now. The Ruta Maya Foundation and Messrs. Van Stone and Johnson will open the eyes of scholars and the public alike with this beautiful and insightful presentation. - Mary Miller, Director of the Getty Research Center Institute, Los Angeles, California; Sterling Professor Emeritus in the History of Art, Yale University - Van Stone and Johnson have delivered a new tool to archaeology ... a whole new concept to Maya imagery ... Johnson's clever invention of inverted imagery ... and Van Stone's analysis of the technological capabilities of the ancient Maya artisans is another breakthrough for Pre-Columbian -indeed, all- archaeology as a scientific endeavor. - James O'Kon, author of The Lost Secrets of Maya Technology and Corn, Cotton and Chocolate: How the Maya Changed the World - Maya Mold Made is not only about works of art, it is itself a work of art ... Through their careful documentation, Mark Van Stone and Paul Johnson restore as much of the context of these objects as possible, providing a new wealth of data on human figural representations and iconography. - John W. Hoopes, Department of Anthropology, The University of Kansas

Author Information

- BA in Physics, gamma-ray astronomy tech, then a calligrapher, carver, and paleographer; now professor of Art History. - Lifelong autodidact, clay-animator, netsuke carver in Japan. Guggenheim Fellow, Ph.D. in Maya Hieroglyphs (UT-Austin). - In 1997, Michael Coe invited him to co-author & illustrate Reading the Maya Glyphs. Mark recently updated and completely rewrote RMG with linguist and epigrapher Barbara MacLeod. It will be published in Spanish and in German later this year. - Other titles: 2012: Science and Prophecy of the Ancient Maya (2010); Maya Mold Made, with Paul Johnson (2022) - A Guggenheim Fellowship took Van Stone around the world in 1988-90, studying manuscripts and inscriptions of many nations, from Medieval Europe to the hieroglyphs of Egypt and Central America. - His unique approach to understanding any craft: practicing it. There is something one learns by actually *making* an artwork that one can learn no other way. Mark's unique combination of scientific training, passion for beauty and calligraphic expertise has bestowed profound insight into all these diverse traditions. Graphic Artist, Photographer, Archaeological Researcher, Museum exhibition designer

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