Previous research has indicated that general differences in costume and composition as represented iconograph-ically in monumental art can be used to determine the relative status of the individual, where two or more are portrayed together (see Clarkson 1979 and Parmington 2000, 2003). Compositional elements to consider when attempting to establish the relative status of individuals depicted together are (1) the degree of embellishment in costumes; (2) the degree of embellishment in associated paraphernalia; (3) the number of costume elements; (4) whether persons are seated, standing, or depicted on the same horizontal register; (5) whether any person is seated on a throne; and (6) whether persons are depicted frontally or in profile.
Symbols of royalty that adorned the Maya elite, as represented iconographically, include slipknots and braided mat signs made from cloth or reed, the drum-major headdress, and the Jester God diadem. Feathers, along with jaguar skins, were the privileged items of rulers and high nobility. Other authoritative symbols incorporated in Maya dress included the mantle or cape, decorated hipcloths, the ladies huipil, mufflers or war scarves, shoulder pieces, tunics, Jester God and masked pectorals, sky-band belts, dangler belts, backracks, pyrite mirrors, turbans, zoomorphic headdresses, and the God C fret apron. Authoritative objects that were held included hafted axes, spears, incense bags, fans, and battle standards (Parming-ton 2000: 42-44; Farmington 2003: 52; see also Schele and Miller 1986; Schele and Freidel 1990; Tate 1992).
Costume was important in signaling social status in ancient Mesoamerican cultures. Ethnohistorical references, although less prevalent and explicit than those of Central Mexico, indicated a comparable relationship between status and attire among the ancient Maya. As Anawalt (1981: 27) points out, for the Aztec, “society was sharply stratified... the appropriate apparel for the different levels of social hierarchy was precisely controlled by explicit sumptuary laws. The common people wore maguey, yucca, or palm fibre garments. Only the upper classes were allowed cotton clothing, and the decorations, colours, and the amount of featherwork on these costumes was clearly specified.” According to Duran:
The twelve great lords wore certain cloaks, the minor lords others. The common soldier could wear only the simplest style of mantle without any special design or fine embroidery that might set him off from the rest. Even the length of the capes was prescribed: the common man’s mantle was not to be worn below the knee; if it reached the ankle, the penalty was death (Duran, in Anawalt 1981: 27).
The presence of comparable statements by colonial period writers supports the view that variations were apparent in the way that the Maya dressed because of differences in their social position (Clarkson 1979: 48). As noted by Diego de Landa:
[The priest] came forth clothed in a jacket of red feathers... and he wore a coroza [headdress] on his head of the same feathers; and under the jacket many cotton ribbons hanging down to the ground like tails. And in his hand he carried an aspergillum, made from a short stick finely worked and for the hairs or bristles of the hyssop there were certain tails of serpents which are like rattlesnakes. And he showed exactly the same gravity as the Pope shows on crowning an emperor; and it was a
Remarkable thing to see how much nobility this dress
Gave them (de Landa, in Tozzer 1941: 105).
Polychrome vessels provide some of the strongest pictographic evidence for social stratification among the Maya during the Classic Period (Reents-Budet 1994: 2). Portraying both imagery and text, this type of ceramic is most often found associated with elite burials and dedicatory caches. Scenes painted on pottery provide important insights into courtly activities undertaken by the Maya elite within the confines of buildings. Scenes on polychrome vessels suggest that palace staff and courtiers included, among others, dwarfs, servants, scribes, and musicians. The behaviours recorded on the pottery include both formal and recreational activities, more specifically, the visitation by foreign dignitaries, dancing, the receiving of tribute, and auto-sacrificial rites (Coe 2000: 113-114). The various vessel types that display imagery include cylinder - and jar-shaped pottery used as uch’ab (“drinking vessels”) for holding liquids, such as cacao, and flat dishes and bowls that were used to hold solid foods. Text accompanying the scenes on painted ceramic often recorded the function ofthe vessel in addition to its owner and the artist who painted it (Reents-Budet 1994: 72-77). Given the personal nature of Maya polychrome pottery, scenes portrayed on vessels provide an important source of information for understanding both private religious and secular behaviour among the elite classes in Classic Maya society.
World History
