**Originally Listed At $750**

Alfred Percival Maudslay (British, 1850-1931). "Quirigua. Monolithic Animal B, East Side" - Plate 9 in Volume II of "Biologia Centrali-Americana, Flora y Fauna" published between 1889 and 1902. A wonderful photogravure of the east side of Monolithic Animal B in the Maya Site of Quirigua, Guatemala. In his survey, Maudslay wrote, "This monument is lying on three large slabs of stone. It is carved into the shape of a great dragon, with a human head, bust, and hands issuing from the dragon's mouth." The animal depicted has been identified as a dragon, a tiger, a toad and turtle. Scholars today believe that it represents a supernatural type of crocodilian, and some have called it the Cosmic Monster. Interestingly, Matthew Looper has described the symbols as suggesting "the animal's identification with the underworld or primordial sea that supports and surrounds the earth" in Maya mythology. Size (image): 8.625" L x 12.25" W (21.9 cm x 31.1 cm) Size (sheet): 12.7" L x 19.625" W (32.3 cm x 49.8 cm)

Maudslay was a British colonial diplomat, archaeologist, and explorer who was among the first archaeologists to study Mayan civilization. He began his career working for the colonial service in Queensland, Trinidad, Tonga, Fiji, and Samoa; however parted ways with the colonial service in 1880 to travel to Guatemala where he explored Mayan ruins at Copan and Quirigua with archaeologist Frank Sarg. The pair then travelled to Tikal. Maudsley was also the first European scholar to describe Yaxchitlan, and he became famous for his explorations of Chichen with Teoberto Maler. Inspired by the travel accounts of Stephens and Catherwood, Alfred P. Maudslay carried out eight expeditions to the Maya area between 1881 and 1894. His more detailed work deals with six sites: Copán, Quirigua, Yaxchilan, Chichen Itza and Palenque. He photographed the monuments and their inscriptions, and made moulds with plaster and paper. The paper and plaster moulds made during his expeditions, at great cost, were sent to England. Maudslay donated his collection to the Victoria and Albert Museum on condition that casts would be made by his assistant Giuntini at the Museum’s expense. The casts were made between 1886 and 1891 and were later transferred to The British Museum. The Maudslay Collection, now in the Department of Ethnography, consists of over 400 plaster casts, paper and plaster moulds, glass negatives and journals written during his expeditions. It also includes nine stone sculptures from Copán and eight lintels from Yaxchilán. The results of his research, including drawings by Annie Hunter, photographs, site plans and descriptions, were published between 1889 and 1902 in the Biologia Centrali-Americana, Flora y Fauna. These publications formed the first significant corpus of Maya inscriptions and remain an invaluable tool to modern epigraphers.

Provenance: Private J. Hart Collection, Houston, Texas, USA, acquired from Webster Enterprises, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA on August 16, 2009

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#174555

Image and text captions are vivid. Slight toning and minor crease marks to paper commensurate with age, but otherwise intact and excellent.