For the last three years Nicholas Hellmuth has been working on a new book to publish the considerable quantity of Classic Maya vases, bowls, plates, cache vessels, effigy containers and associated ceramic art that he has been photographing. The text and photography for this new book on Maya art is now finished,. The text is being edited by Jack Sulak and by Andrea David.
Because it will be over a year before the process of selection of publisher, additional editing, typesetting and printing of the new book is taken care of, F.L.A.A.R. will shortly be offering pre-publication copies to benefactors who wish to send in a check to help speed along the publication process. The book is in coffee table format, preliminary page size of 31 x 31 centimeters.
To give an idea of the contents, here is the table of contents.
- Blackware Cylindrical Tripods
- Blackware Bowls which are related to Blackware Cylindrical Tripods
- Bowl with an important Hieroglyphic Inscription
- Polychrome Cylindrical Tripods
- Stuccoed and painted cylindrical tripods
- Painted cylindrical tripods but not on stucco
- Polychrome Bowls as an evolution after Cylindrical Tripods
- Cylindrical Tripods showing the Tiquisate Trinity
- Definition of Hemispherical Bowls of Tepeu 1 Date and Style
- Tepeu 1 Hemispherical Bowls with the Primary Standard Sequence (PSS)
- Multiple-Band Tepeu 1 PSS Bowls
- Red Band Tepeu 1 Bowls
- The Sequence of Evolution from Basal Flange Bowls to Tepeu 1 Plate Form
- Tikal/Uaxactun Dancer Plates; Jaguar Plates (all Tepeu 1)
- Plates (and related Bowls and Vases) picturing the Butterfly Composite
- Plates (and related Vases) picturing the Teotihuacanoid War Dragon
- Plates with important Hieroglyphic Texts including the PSS
- Introducing Plates of the Brown Wash Style
- Introducting Plates of the Completely Black andWhite Style (not Eastern Peten)
- The Moan Bird Plate Style
- The Big Glyph Plate Style of Campeche or Yucatan
- Bowls with solid clay Nubbin Supports
- Bowls (without pedestal base) with related scenes (which are primarily enema scenes)
- Vase with related Enema Scene
- Throne Scenes
- Vases with Hieroglyphic Inscriptions (usually the PSS)
- Chama Bowl
- Highland God D-God K Style
- Carved Vases of various Middle Motagua Valley and related Workshops
• Chapter 15, Miscellaneous Vases and Bowls
• Chapter 16, Felines, Monkeys, Deer, and Flowers: Flora and Fauna in Classic Maya Art on Ceramics.
• Chapter 17, Sports of the Classic Maya: Hunting and Ballgames
• Chapter 18, Ceramic Art of the Terminal Classic Decades
• Appendix A
• Appendix B
• Appendix C
• Appendix D
• Comprehensive Glossary of Maya Ceramics, Style, and related Iconography
• Bibliography
• Acknowledgments
On occasion we will post samples of the illustrations and text from this new book. These will be linked on this page (such as the link in Chapter 7 for plates with hieroglyphic texts), so bookmark this page and perhaps return every month.
Since the Glossary is the first comprehensive glossary dedicated specifically to the iconography of Maya pottery we are considering issuing this as a separate pre-print to individuals who order and pay in advance. This glossary summarizes information based on the last thirty years of Hellmuth's extensive photography of rare and previously unknown Maya art throughout the world. This glossary also reports upon the considerable amount of information gathered from the hundreds and hundreds of rollout photographs taken by F.L.A.A.R.with our now three rollout cameras during six months sustained photography in Guatemala during 1997.