Ave!

Gourd Art, Maya, Lady Xoc, Yaxchilan

Size/ 6 inches X 4 3/4 inches

Composition/ Painted and sealed with a clear coat matte; suitable for a small stand

Description/ Lady Xoc sitting left, presents the regal feathered headdress to Itzamnaaj B'alam (Lord Shield Jaguar), on right, seated on a double-headed jaguar throne. From the non-painted stone lintel, Sheri has taken the liberty to add colors representative of the Maya palette.

Seller's Note/ Lady Xoc was one tough cookie!

Lady K?ab?al Xook, or Lady Xoc was a Maya Queen consort of Yaxchilan and is considered to have been one of the most powerful and prominent women in all Maya civilization. She was the principal wife and aunt of King Jaguar Shield, who ruled the prominent kingdom of Yaxchilan from 681 to 742. She is believed by many to have been the sister of Lady Pacal.

Lady Xoc is best known for adorning Structure 23 in Yaxchilan with 3 lintels (Lintel 24, Lintel 25, and Lintel 26) that depict her performing rituals. Royal Maya women are often depicted via texts and iconography like lintels. However, other women of Maya culture are not depicted in this manner. Also, Lady Xoc appears in the images performing ritual sacrifices, which women were not typically seen doing in ancient Maya art. It is through Lady Xoc and her lintels that we understand just how involved royal women were with Maya rituals and politics.

As Maya ruler ship was not always from father to son, and the elites needed to be convinced, via ceremonies and blood sacrifice, as to whom would next accede to the throne. In Lintel 24 Lady Xoc performs a bloodletting ritual by threading a rope twisted with magway thorns through a hole in her tongue. Ouch!

For further information concerning the amazing Lady Xoc, click here.

The final photo is Sheri seated on a double-headed jaguar throne before the Governors palace, Uxmal, in 1992. How time flies!