47 THE STATUE OF LA MORELIA John L. Clark In early December of 1975, William Parady, Richard Wagner, and I, guided by our friend Julio Morales, drove about ten kilometers north northeast of Santa Lucia Cotzumalhuapa to the Finca La Morelia In the Departamento de Chimaltenango, Guatemala, where we had heard there was a newly discovered carved stone of some Importance. On arrival we had no difficulty in finding the sculpture as it has been installed in the place of honor overlooking the small central plaza of the village; to make sure it would not take off unexpectedly, the monument was imbedded in concrete. In the village it is known as "El Rey. 1' The monument consists of a figure carved in the round from a gray, hard volcanic stone. It measures about 1. 4 meters high, about a third of a meter thick and about a half of a meter wide; the scale, proportions, and monumentality of the sculpture, however, contrive to convey an impression of a much larger and more stately work. It is said to have been found in a canyon, or gulch, on the side of the Volcan de Feugo by Rosaria Xicay and thence transported to the village where it was installed in the plaza. The sculpture has been damaged. Several large, but not particularly impor- tant, parts have been knocked off: notably the right hand part of the headdress and part of the lower left hand bird or serpent head. Conceivably the figure was never completed since the legs appear to terminate in a block of stone. If so, perhaps this sculptor started at the top and worked down in the manner of Michaelangelo. Nevertheless, the block is carefully dressed and shaped as if to serve as a pedestal. A most unusual feature of this sculpture is that the front is flat and when viewed frontally conveys the impression of a flat stela-like monument. Only upon walking around the carving does one learn that it is in fact a sculpture in the round. Apparently, the entire front of the carving consists of a shield-like object or screen held before the figure, perhaps for the purpose of impersonation, completely masking the figure behind and protruding well beyond its confines. The figure's right hand clearly grasps the edge of the masking-device while the left hand is broken or uncompleted. The figure, as now planted in concrete to an unknown depth, leans slightly to its right. A careful examination of the features and accoutrement shows the nose to be on the right hand side of the face; the left hand eye goggle is wider than Its counter- part. Also, the elaborate "moustache" appears much wider on the left than on the right, although damage to the statue may have created this impression. The circle in the center of the costume is also slightly off-center and not completely round. Finally, one snake, or bird, head is slightly higher than the other. Where transportation was a problem, sculptures were frequently roughed out in the quarry to cut down weight, as was the famous Tlaloc of Coatlinchan now in 48 Mexico City. Perhaps, something of the sort happened here, without even the roughing out being completed. A description of the carving is in order. Starting at the top and front, the headdress appears to be the yawning mouth of a great serpent, though without fangs. The eyes of the face are enclosed by goggles. It cannot be ascertained whether the eyes are actually meant to be shown, or whether what appear to be eyes are only imperfections in the stone. The nose is small, pug, and partly broken. The mouth is surmounted by an enormous "moustache, " the ends of which turn down at right angles, then out, up, and in again. The imperfections of the stone make it difficult to determine how many teeth were intended. The tongue is bifurcated, extends beyond the lower jaw and obscures it. The ears are indicated by earflares. The next prominent feature is a broad, plain circular "collar" which serves to frame and emphasize the mask-like face above. Beneath the collar is a double knotted bow or bow-tie. Over the loins is a large circle defined by a raised fillet and mounted on a wide horizontal band. On either side are scrolling zig-zags (serpent bodies?) commencing ab the level of the figure's shoulders and terminating in heads (serpent or bird) in the area of his knees. The heads have open mouths, no teeth, but with great lolling tongues. When the sculpture is viewed from the sides, it is noteworthy that the figure in the round bears no relationship to the depictation on the frontal panel or "shield." One is immediately struck by the contrast in style and execution of the "shield" and the figure behind. Whereas the "shield" in both its conception and execution is extremely complicated and elaborate, almost to the point of appearing "baroque,," the figure itself is so simple in these respects as to appear almost "primitive." The figure, massive and block-like, is rudimentarily indicated by horizontal lines defining a waist and bordered skirt, and it is finished by a large and somewhat more "finished" headdress with pendant components extending to the bottom of the skirt and arms bent at the elbow terminating in hands supporting the frontal "shield. " The somewhat startling effect of this juxtaposition of opposing styles is to render the figure surprisingly stolid and lifeless while the "shield" projects a vividly animated and dramatic presence; this is a chief contributing factor to the illusion of greater monumentality than the sculpture actually possesses. Although specific iconographic elements of the sculpture are, of course, familiar, the total composition is extraordinary and has few parallels in the sculpture of Mesoamerica with which the author is familiar. The so-called Tlaloc complex of elements has particularly close ties to the low relief Sculpture 15 of nearby El Baul (Thompson 1948: fig. 8b), one of several Cotzumalhuapan style portrayals of this icon. Parsons (1969: 140) considers this carving to belong to the beginning (ca. AD 400-500) of his "Middle Classic-" period and believes the Tlaloc effigy to be of Teotihuacan inspiration. Another interesting comparison to note is the Tlaloc effigy jar from Metapa, 49 south of Izapa (Shook 1958). Tozzer (1957, Vol. XII: fig. 206-233) conveniently illustrates a number of manifestations of the Tlaloc complex. Drawing upon the sculpture of Chichen Itza and other localities such as Cotzumalhuapa, he (Vol. XI: 116) points out a close connection between Tlaloc and Tlalchitonatiuh, as well as Tlaloc and Xiucoatl. In this connection it is interesting to note he points out that in both Chichen and Cotzumalhuapa the god Tlalchitonatiuh, or his impersonators, are shown with long braids or strands of false hair, generally hanging down the back. It is possible that our La Morelia figure has this feature. Probably the two zig-zag features which terminate in heads are serpents, conceivable the fire serpents associated with the sun-god and with Tlaloc (cf. Tozzer 1957, Vol. XII: fig. 216). In her study of Teotihuacan Tlaloc iconography, Pasztory classifies Teotihuacan "rain-god" depictions into Tlalocs A and B, and remarks (1974: 15): Moreover, the long bifurcated tongue represented on Tlaloc B, thought to be derived from a serpent, is identical with the long tongues of feline figures represented in Teotihuacan art. In view of these jaguar associations for Tlaloc B, the term Jaguar-Tlaloc is suggested to describe this deity... Covarrubias may have been correct in tracing the Jaguar-Tlaloc image back to Olmec art. A parallel closer in time to Classic Teotihuacan is the image of the rain god Cocijo at Monte Alban (also derived from an Olmec prototype), which has a conspicuously long tongue emerging from a jaguar maw. An interesting comparison to Teotihuacan iconography for our La Morelia sculpture is the relief design on a tripod vessel from Zacuala (Kubler 1967: fig. 32). We see here a goggle-eyed, jaguar-mawed, fanged, and bifurcated-tongued TlaIoc flanked by fire serpents with great extended forked tongues. Another somewhat analogous piece is the brazier from Oaxaca illustrated by Boos (1966: fig. 115). Here a young god holds in his hands identical scepters displaying the motif of the falling eagle. While our figure is probably holding serpents, the lack of greater naturalism does not make this certain. The similar cropped feather headdress should also be noted. An extraordinary resemblance to our La Morelia piece is found in a white jadeite plaque typical of San Jeronimo, Costa Grande, Guerrero (Covarrubias 1971: fig. 49). Although the jadeite figure is only crudely etched, it possesses the same jaguar-maw, the fangs and teeth, the extended tongue, and most remarkable the same sort of tunic costume with bow-tie and a circle, though small, in the midrif. Further, two serpents front outward on either side, and other serpents form the headdress. Other Tialoc effigies worthy of comparison are found on Copan Stela 6, the 50 Pyramid of the Magician at Uxmal, and at Castillo de Teayo. Two of the Teayo figures have "Mixtec year-signs" in their headdress, as do the Copan and Uxmal examples. It is interesting to note that the curious convention of portraying the feet of figures vertically, i.e. the feet are shown as they appear from above, not from the side, or as Proskouriakoff puts it, in the same plane of the sculpture, which is so common in Cotzumalhuapan art, is to be found in two of the Teayo sculptures (Seler 1902-1923, Vol. m: figs. 32, 33). The bow-tie element in our La Morelia sculpture is of importance. This unusual feature occurs upon a number of sculptures at Kaminaljuyu as well as upon several additional carvings related stylistically but of unknown provenience. Miles (1965: 257-264) considers the Kaminaljuyu sculptures in question to belong to her Division 4, an admittedly somewhat unsatisfactory unit which encompasses pieces from at least as early as Late Preclassic to the Early Classic. Also strongly relating both to Kaminaljuyu and Miles's Division 4 is the elaborately sihouetted-effect of the La Morelia frontal shield. With regard to sculptural concept, attention should also be called to the remarkable "compound" Olmec sculpture from Ojo de Agua on the Chiapas coast. Though quite dissimilar stylistically, the notion of a simple figure in the round supporting a flat, relatively elaborately decorated "tplaque" before it recalls most strongly the La Morelia carving. But so much for conjecture! The clues to this puzzle and mystery may lie below the ashes and lava flows of Fuego, but there is no doubt that we are only at the beginning of our attempt to unravel the mysteries of the Guatemala Piedmont. As Proskouriakoff (1950: 183) points out, the objective approach is better than the subjective, but until we have more information there is little choice. 51 Bibliography Boos., F.H. 1966 Covarrubias, M. 1971 Kubler, G. 1967 Miles, S. W. 1965 Parsons, L.A. 1969. Pasztory, E. 1974 Proskouriakoff, T. 1950 The Ceramic Sculptures of Ancient Oaxaca. A. S. Barnes and Co., Inc., New York. Indian Art of Mexico and Central America. Alfred A. Knopf, New York. The Iconography of the Art of Teotihuacan. Studies in Pre- Columbian Art and Archaeology No. 4. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington. Sculpture of the Guatemala-Chiapas Highlands and Pacific Slopes and Associated Hieroglyphs. In: Handbook of Middle American Indians Volume 2. University of Texas Press, Austin. Bilbao, Guatemala. Volume II. Milwaukee Public Museum Publications in Anthropology 12. The Iconography of the Teotihuacan Tlaloc. Studies in Pre- Columbian Art and Archaeology No. 15. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington. A Study of Classic Maya Sculpture. Carnegie Institution Publication 593. Washington, D.C. Seler, E. 1902-1923 Gesammelte Abhundlungen zur Amerikanischen Sprach- und Altertumskunde. Berlin. Shook, E. E. 1958 Thompson, J. E. S. 1948 Studies in Ancient Soconusco. Archaeology Magazine 11 (1). An Archaeological Reconnaissance in the Cotzumalhuapa Region, Escuintla, Guatemala. Carnegie Institution Contributions to American Anthropology and History 9 (44). Washington, D. C. 52 Tozzer, A. M. 1957 Chichen Itza and Its Cenote of Sacrifice: A Comparative Study of Contemporaneous Maya and Toltec. Memoirs of the Peabody Museum Vols. X[ and XII. Harvard University. 53 Plate 1. The stone statue of La Morelia.