Stela

c. 702

Maker unknown (Maya)
Mexico (Campeche or Quintana Roo) or Guatemala

Maya royals were portrayed on stone monuments like this one, which they erected in public spaces within their cities. These sculptures marked major dynastic events including enthronements, marriages, military triumphs, and deaths. Although the elaborately dressed figure on this stela is currently unidentified, the hieroglyphic text on the left side of the stone marks the date: January 20, 702. We do not yet know what event was being recorded, but this date was likely significant for Maya peoples because it was the end of a ten-year period, or Lahuntun, similar to a decade.

Status: On View, Gallery 161
Department: Arts of the Americas

Culture: Maya
Title: Stela
Place: Campeche state (Object made in:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: c. 702 CE
Medium: Limestone
Dimensions: 162.6 × 68.6 × 30.5 cm (64 × 27 × 12 in.)
Credit Line: Wirt D. Walker Endowment Fund
Reference Number: 1990.22
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/75645/manifest.json

James N. Wood, Treasures from The Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 2000), 29.
Joel Palka and Jeff Buechler, “Monument to a Matriarch: A Classic Maya Stela at the Art Institute of Chicago,” Mesoamerican Voices 1 (2003), 41–46.
Richard Townsend with Elizabeth Pope, Indian Art of the Americas at the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 2016), 216–217, cat. 173.

Private collector, US, by 1970 [according to correspondence from M. Huber, Mar. 5, 2014, the work was in the collection on the west coast US by 1970, copy in curatorial object file]; Robert J. Huber (Robert and Marianne Huber Fine Arts; Huber Primitive Art), Dixon, IL, and New York, by 1970 [this and the following according to correspondence from Patricia Atwood, Nov. 29, 1989, copy in curatorial object file]; sold to Seth G. Atwood (1917–2010), Time Museum, Rockford, IL, Jan. 21, 1970 [incoming receipt, RX18131, Dec. 6, 1989, and invoice, Jan. 9, 1990, copy in curatorial object file]; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1990.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.