The Yawn

Photographer Unknown, (The Yawn)

The Gate Keeper

Photographer unknown, (The Gate Keeper: The Lion at the Gate of Xibalba)

Xibalba, roughly translated as “place of fear”, is the name of the underworld in K’iche’ Maya mythology, ruled by the Maya death gods and their helpers. In 16th-century Verapaz, the entrance to Xibalba was traditionally held to be a cave in the vicinity of Cobán.

Lion Aquamanile

Aquamanile in the Form of a Lion, Copper Alloy, Made in Nuremberg, 1400, Collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

This proud and alert lion was created using the lostwax (cire perdue) method. Wax is molded around a rough clay model into the desired form of the sculpture, coated in turn with a mixture of brick, clay, and ashes, then melted out to create space for the molten metal. The rear edges of all four legs have been notched and engraved to suggest fur, while the long mane covering the entire chest has been rendered in low relief and incised to achieve surface detail. Small dragons form the spigot and handle.

The Marble Lion

Marble Statue of a Lion, Greece, 400-390 BC, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 31.25 x 63.5 Inches

Marble statues of lions were used as monuments or guardians at the ends of a large tomb facade. This Greek statue was taken by the Romans to Rome during the Imperial Period. In archaeology, that term is usually taken to cover the period from the rule of Augustus and his reformation around 30 BC until the beginning of the onset of the Migration period at 375 AD.