Misplaced Pages

#538461

46-614: The MCM first appeared in a private collection in the 1960s and was shown at "The Maya Scribe and His World", an exhibition held at the Grolier Club in New York City in 1971, hence its original name. An almanac that charts the movements of the planet Venus , it originally consisted of twenty pages; the first eight and the last two are now missing. Folio 8 has the tallest fragment, measuring 19 centimeters (7.5 in), and its pages are typically 12.5 centimeters (4.9 in) wide. The red frame lines at

92-545: A body of water to strike a gastropod, very much like images from the Nuttall and Borgia codices (Codex Nuttall 16, 34, 75, 80; Codex Borgia 12, 53). Two more pages would have followed these ten, to complete the full Venus cycle recorded in the surviving pages. The radiocarbon date of the codex places it squarely in the Early Postclassic period, when both Tula and Chichen Itza were waning in power and when all of Mesoamerica

138-619: A clear example of the combination of indigenous and European techniques sometimes known as Arte Indocristiano . After that, the techniques for its production were lost in Mexico, but in Cuba there are examples from as late as 1830. Despite time and the harsh weathering conditions, paintings coloured by Maya blue have not faded over time. The color has resisted chemical solvents and acids such as nitric acid . Its resistance against chemical aggression (acids, alkalis , solvents , etc.) and biodegradation

184-406: A full study of the codex. They presented further arguments in support of the authenticity of the document and came to the conclusion that only a Maya priest could have made the work. Despite subsequent publication of a critical review of Coe et al.’s arguments, teams of scientists under the auspices of Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History were preparing the studies that would declare

230-483: A maize kernel or a maize god could emerge, like the representation discovered at Tancah in 1974. In the MCM the mountain deity prepares to hurl a stone and takes a captive. Finally, although once thought to be fragments of two different pages, Page 10 can now be recognized as a single page, and the depiction of the third and final skeletal death deity, probably Tlalhuizcalpantecuhtli again. The deity has launched an atlatl dart into

276-639: A natural clay and type of fuller's earth which is most common in the Southern United States, but is not known to exist in abundant deposits in Mesoamerica. Smaller trace amounts of other mineral additives have also been identified. Maya blue first appeared around 800, and it was still used in the 16th century in several Convents of Colonial Mexico, notably in the paintings of the indigenous Nahua painter Juan Gerson in Tecamachalco. These paintings are

322-521: A research library specializing in books, bibliography and bibliophily, printing (especially the history of printing and examples of fine printing), binding, illustration and bookselling. The Grolier Club has one of the more extensive collections of book auction and bookseller catalogs in North America. The Library has the archives of a number of prominent bibliophiles such as Sir Thomas Phillipps , and of bibliophile and print collecting groups, such as

368-493: A ringstand support. Saeko Yanigasawa has demonstrated that the style of the MCM most closely relates to that of Mixtec codices, which may have drawn on hybrid works like the MCM, and other scholars have noted that headdresses known from the Mixtec manuscripts are first known in the MCM. The rounded eye, as opposed to the oval characterized by a straight line across the upper side of the eye, is known at Chichen Itza. Also typical of both

414-590: A team of scientists coordinated by the National Institute for Anthropology and History demonstrated conclusively that the document dates to the period between 1021 and 1154 CE. The Mexican studies confirm that it is the oldest surviving codex from Mexico and the oldest book of the Americas. The first Mexican owner, Josué Saenz, claimed that the manuscript had been recovered from a cave in the Mexican state of Chiapas in

460-500: A thin foundation of gypsum , or calcium sulfate (CaSO 4 •2H 2 O) measuring between 0.2 mm-0.3 mm, in order to form a smooth writing surface. The Mexican studies have also proven that the pigment is contemporaneous with the paper; further work has shown that the pigments include lamp black , red produced from hematite (Fe 2 O 3 ), Maya blue fashioned from indigo dye and palygorskite , and browns prepared with cochineal . Mexican scientific study has also shown that

506-538: A total of 584 days. Five Venus cycles equals 8 solar years of 365 days, providing for numerological opportunities. It is these synodic periods that are spelled out in the MCM ring numbers. For example, page 7 shows a bar and three dots inside the “ring,” so that the reader counts forward 8 days from the Lamat day (e.g.10 Lamat, in the second position) to the Kib day (e.g. 5 Kib, in the second position), 8 days later on page 8. On page 8,

SECTION 10

#1732852608539

552-488: A version of a solar deity known from Dresden 55a, and as the face of an Early Postclassic Maya mask at the Art Institute of Chicago (1965.782); this sun god sets the temple in front of him afire with a dart launched from his atlatl. A death god appears on page 6, almost certainly a version of Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, as first identified by John Carlson. He wields a massive knife and has decapitated another deity that he holds by

598-524: A year later. In 2013, plans were announced for a 51-story apartment tower beside the Grolier Club, using air rights purchased from the club and the adjoining Christ Church . The following people have served as presidents of the club: The Club has issued editions of the following works: Maya blue Maya blue ( Spanish : azul maya ) is a unique bright azure blue pigment manufactured by cultures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica , such as

644-408: Is "the literary study of the arts pertaining to the production of books, including the occasional publication of books designed to illustrate, promote and encourage these arts; and the acquisition, furnishing and maintenance of a suitable club building for the safekeeping of its property, wherein meetings, lectures and exhibitions shall take place from time to time ..." The Grolier Club maintains

690-556: Is a private club and society of bibliophiles in New York City . Founded in January 1884, it is the oldest existing bibliophilic club in North America. The club is named after Jean Grolier de Servières, Viscount d'Aguisy , Treasurer General of France, whose library was famous; his motto, " Io. Grolierii et amicorum " [of or belonging to Jean Grolier and his friends], suggested his generosity in sharing books. The Club's stated objective

736-593: The Hroswitha Club of women book collectors (1944–c. 1999) and the Society of Iconophiles. The Grolier Club also has a program of public exhibitions which "treat books and prints as objects worthy of display, on a par with painting and sculpture." The exhibitions draw on various sources including holdings of the Club, its members, and of institutional libraries. In 2013, it hosted an exhibition on women in science . In 2022

782-528: The Mayas and Aztecs , during a period extending from approximately the 8th century to around 1860 CE. It is found in mural paintings on architectural buildings, ceramic pieces, sculptures, codices, and even in post-conquest Indochristian artworks and mural decorations. The Maya blue pigment is a composite of organic and inorganic constituents, primarily indigo dyes derived from the leaves of anil ( Indigofera suffruticosa ) plants combined with palygorskite ,

828-742: The Rare Book School was featured in the exhibit, "Building the Book from the Ancient World to the Present Day: Five Decades of Rare Book School & the Book Arts Press." The exhibit covered two millennia of the changing form of the book. The Grolier Club is a member of the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies . The Grolier Club was formed on January 23, 1884, with 50 members and

874-414: The 1960s, along with a mosaic mask, a wooden box, a knife handle, as well as a child's sandal and a piece of rope, along with some blank pages of amate (pre-Columbian fig-bark paper). Saenz lent the manuscript to the Grolier Club and later presented the book to the Mexican nation. The codex is said to have been found enclosed in a wooden box in a dry cave in the highlands of Chiapas near Tortuguero ; it

920-403: The MCM and paintings at Chichen Itza is the casual attention to underdrawing; in both, the final painted line deviates from the sketch. The style of the MCM hieroglyphs is simple but competent, consistent and controlled for long columns of day signs. Both the underdrawing and the finished work suggests that a single scribe, using at least two brushes, one brush for thicker, viscous pigments used for

966-405: The MCM to be authentic in 2018. Although both front and back (recto and verso) of the MCM were prepared for painting, only one side was completed as a ritual manuscript. Each recto page features a standing deity facing left. The left-hand side of each page is marked by a column of repeated day signs; where this column is complete these total thirteen in all. Ring numbers across the upper margin link

SECTION 20

#1732852608539

1012-582: The Morning Star in Central Mexico. The shining tree may be issuing radiant jade disks. Page 8 has been identified as a bird deity, with some serpent qualities; he wears a thick belt and tezcacuitlapilli over a hide skirt, and he has shot the temple in front of him with a dart from his atlatl. Although sometimes identified as a maize deity, the Page 9 god is the craggy mountain deity or personified mountain from which

1058-470: The bottom of pages four through eight indicates that the dimensions were once substantially taller, and that the scribe prepared a space for text under the figure on each page. Accordingly, the manuscript would once have measured 250 centimeters (98.4 in), roughly the size of the Dresden Codex . Its authenticity was disputed at the time of its discovery, but has been upheld by multiple studies. In 2018,

1104-492: The codex along with some other looted Maya artifacts and was told that he could take the items back to Mexico City for authentication before purchasing them. The antiquities expert that Sáenz consulted declared that the artifacts were fakes but Sáenz later purchased the codex and permitted Michael Coe to display the codex at the Grolier Club in 1971. In 1976, the United States-Mexico Artifacts Treaty of 1970

1150-406: The codex to non-destructive testing in an effort to determine its authenticity, and identified the key ingredient of Maya blue , palygorskite . Tests under the sponsorship of INAH yielded additional radiocarbon dates, leading to a consensus that the manuscript dates to the 11th or 12th century. Additional scientific study has demonstrated that the amate paper surface was prepared on both sides with

1196-498: The codex was subjected to at least three periods of high moisture conditions. Furthermore, tiny arthropods took up residence in the MCM at some point, yielding crisply chewed edges that detractors of the manuscript misconstrued as scissor cuts. Looters handled the codex roughly, tearing apart the pages. Today only pages four, five, and six remain attached to one another. In 2015, ahead of the INAH study, Coe, Houston, Miller and Taube published

1242-477: The codex, the arguments against the manuscript's authenticity became irrelevant in the face of Mexican scientific analysis. Various campaigns of scientific testing of the manuscript have taken place, beginning with a radiocarbon test in 1972 which yielded a date of 1035–1431; a subsequent test in 2012 produced a date of 1050–1284. In 2007, the Instituto de Física de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México subjected

1288-400: The compound was determined by powder diffraction in the 1950s and was found to be a composite of palygorskite and indigo, most likely derived from the leaves of the añil . An actual recipe to reproduce Maya blue pigment was published in 1993 by a Mexican historian and chemist, Constantino Reyes-Valerio . The combination of different clays (palygorskite and montmorillonite ), together with

1334-405: The count in the “ring” is 16, three bars and one dot; this is added to the sum yielded by the 11 dots, which note periods of 20, or 220 days, to total 236 days: 236 is the period of Venus's visibility as Morning Star. The book would have served as a guide to precise knowledge in the hands of a Maya priest in the late 11th or early 12th century. The first eight pages of the codex are now lost, as are

1380-629: The day signs, and a finer instrument to handle the human figures and other elements of each scene. The MCM was first shown at the Grolier Club from April 20 to June 5, 1971. Prior to the first exhibit in 1971 at The Grolier Club, the MCM was in the possession of a private collector in Mexico. The MCM first appeared at an auction in the late 1960s. The MCM was exhibited at the Museo Nacional de Antropología of Mexico City for three weeks in September and October 2018. Grolier Club The Grolier Club

1426-658: The days of the Venus cycle, recorded in a hybrid system that incorporates both the bar-and-dot numeration of the Maya and the single dots used in Central Mexico and Oaxaca. Mesoamerican peoples paid close attention to Venus, understood to be a dangerous and warlike entity (XRF Mesoamerican calendars). Venus's cycle was broken down by synodic periods as follows: 90 days of invisibility in superior conjunction (SC), 250 days of visibility as Evening Star, 8 days of invisibility in inferior conjunction (IC), and 236 days of visibility as Morning Star, for

Maya Codex of Mexico - Misplaced Pages Continue

1472-435: The first full-sized facsimile in 2015, using photographs taken by National Geographic photographer Enrico Ferorrelli in 1987, along with a full set of hand-drawn and uncopyrighted drawings for dissemination, and a thorough analysis of the context, content, and iconography of the codex. Coe et al. also demonstrated that the paper is three-ply, which lent itself to the screen-fold format. A new facsimile, based on new photography,

1518-580: The hair. The death deity has a jagged flint blade in his nasal cavity, similar to a depiction at the Temple of the Warriors, Chichen Itza . The enigmatic deity of Page 7 stands in front of a shining tree, or what David Stuart first called the "Shiner". His headdress is very close to the headdresses worn by the five deities in the Vaticanus B Venus passages, and this may further link him to Tlalhuizcalpantecuhtli, god of

1564-402: The last two, but the page numbering today refers to the pages now in existence. Page 1 depicts K’awiil, who takes a captive. Page 2 depicts a death god , the god most commonly known as Kimi among the Maya. The deity of Page 3 is not easily identifiable, but the blackened eyes of the captive are like those seen on Dresden 60b. K’awiil repeats on Page 4, this time taking a captive. Page 5 features

1610-606: The only pre-Columbian codex discovered in the course of the 20th century, except for some codex fragments excavated by archaeologists. Following the 1971 exhibition, Michael D. Coe , published the first half-size recto-side facsimile of the codex in The Maya Scribe and His World , published by the Grolier Club in 1973. The MCM was subsequently published various times, by detractors ( J. Eric S. Thompson , Milbrath, Baudez, among them) and by proponents (Stuart, Carlson). Coe, Stephen D. Houston , Mary Miller , and Karl Taube published

1656-488: The syntheses, properties and nature of Maya blue and the research in relation with the archaeological and historical contexts has been published in the journal Developments in Clay Science . In 2008, researchers from Wheaton College discovered the production of Maya Blue was an integral component of the ancient rituals held at Chichén Itzá . Near a sacred natural sinkhole, indigo and palygorskite were combined through

1702-411: The use of the leaves of the añil and the actual process is described in his paper. Reyes-Valerio's contributions were possibly due to his combined background of history and chemistry, through a thorough revision of primary texts ( Sahagún , Hernandez , Jimenez , and others), microscopic analysis of the mural paintings and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy . After the formula for the production

1748-614: The wealthy young bibliophile whose early death in the sinking of the RMS Titanic inspired his mother to construct Harvard's Harry Elkins Widener Memorial Library , had been a member. From April 20 to June 5, 1971, a newly-discovered pre-Columbian Maya codex was displayed in the club, giving the codex the name the Grolier Codex . In 1973 the club published a facsimile of the codex in a book by Michael D. Coe . The Grolier Club has had three locations since its founding. Its first home

1794-1087: Was formally incorporated in 1888. The founders of the club were William Loring Andrews , Theodore L. DeVinne , A. W. Drake , Albert Gallup , Robert Hoe III , Brayton Ives, Samuel W. Marvin, E. S. Mead, and Arthur B. Turnure. Perfection in the art of bookmaking is encouraged. E. D. French engraved the club's own bookplate as well as bookplates for many of its members. Honorary members have included I.N. Phelps Stokes (elected 1927), Bruce Rogers (1928), Henry Watson Kent (1930), Franklin D. Roosevelt (1934), Rudolph Ruzicka (1946), Lawrence C. Wroth (1950), Carl Purington Rollins (1951), Elmer Adler (1952), Joseph Blumenthal (1967), Margaret Bingham Stillwell (1977) and Mary C. Hyde Eccles (1989). Honorary Foreign Corresponding members have included Emery Walker (elected 1920), Alfred W. Pollard (1921), Sir Geoffrey Keynes (1922), Michael Sadleir (1925), Stanley Morison (1951), Giovanni Mardersteig (1964), Howard M. Nixon (1971), Nicolas Barker (1972), John Carter (1973), and Hermann Zapf (2003). Harry Elkins Widener ,

1840-615: Was in decline. The workmanship of the MCM relates to late paintings at Chichen Itza, in which outlines and underdrawing are only loosely followed by the subsequent final painting.  The discovery of ring numbers in the Xultun paintings, dating to 800 CE, provided evidence that ring numbers were in use for centuries, and not unique to the Dresden Codex.  The proportions of the human figures are similar to those known from Terminal Classic and Early Postclassic fine orange ceramics, typically with

1886-636: Was invoked by the Attorney General of Mexico . This resulted in the seizure of the codex and its return to Mexico. Sáenz donated the codex to the Mexican government and it is currently kept in the vault of the National Library , after being kept for years in a vault in the Museo Nacional de Antropología in Mexico City and not on public display. The claimed discovery of the Grolier Codex would make it

Maya Codex of Mexico - Misplaced Pages Continue

1932-458: Was published by the Mexican government in 2018. The English Mayanist J. Eric S. Thompson cast doubt upon the authenticity of the MCM in 1975, although he did not see the manuscript himself. As Victoria Bricker and Harvey Bricker have argued, the contents of the MCM have not been copied directly from any known codices, and yet they are consistent with an authentic and accurate prehispanic calendar. Although other scholars have argued for and against

1978-486: Was published in the book De Bonampak al Templo Mayor: Historia del Azul Maya en Mesoamerica , many developments in the chemical analysis of the pigment occurred in collaborations between Reyes-Valerio and European scientists. A comprehensive study on the pigment which describes history, the experimental study techniques (diffraction studies, infrared spectroscopies, Raman amplification , optical spectroscopies, voltammetry, nuclear magnetic resonance, and computer modelling),

2024-520: Was rented space at 64 Madison Avenue, but the club had outgrown this space by 1888. It moved in 1890 to a Romanesque Revival building at 29 East 32nd Street (now a designated city landmark). The third and current clubhouse at 47 East 60th Street, on the Upper East Side , was designed by Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue . The cornerstone was laid in December 1916, and the clubhouse opened almost exactly

2070-510: Was said to have been found with a turquoise mask that is now in the collection of Dumbarton Oaks . In 1965, the Mexican collector Dr. Josué Sáenz was taken by two men on a light plane to a remote airstrip in the foothills of the Sierra Madre near Tortuguero in Tabasco state; the compass of the plane was covered with a cloth but Sáenz recognized his approximate location. At the airstrip he was shown

2116-455: Was tested, and it was shown that Maya blue is an extremely resistant pigment, but it can be destroyed using very intense acid treatment under reflux . Because of its exceptionally durable colour properties, Maya Blue is an iconic system that led to paleo-inspired chemistry, i.e. the recreation of new pigments such as Maya Violet which exploits the molecular structure of Maya Blue towards new pigment combinations. The chemical composition of

#538461