Papery Jewel (huunal uuh)450–750 CE

Not on view

Title: Papery Jewel (huunal uuh)
Culture: Maya
Place Made
Date Made: 450–750 CE
Medium: Jadeite
Dimensions: 2 5/8 × 2 1/8 × 1/4 in. (6.67 × 5.4 × 0.64 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by Camilla Chandler Frost
Accession Number: M.2010.115.245
Classification: Stone
Collecting Area: Art of the Ancient Americas
Curatorial Notes: This jade diadem, a carved portrait of a fishlike deity in profile, may have ornamented a ceremonial bark paper headband known as a sak-huun (literally “white paper/headband”) that was worn as a crown by Classic Maya rulers. The deity is the animate essence of paper, and rulership was intrinsically linked with this material. When rulers acceded to the throne, they received their paper headband and adopted a sak-huunil k’aba’, or “white-paper name.” The Classic Maya called the diadems affixed to such headbands huunal uuh, “papery jewel,” even though they were carved of jade and other stony materials.

Alyce de Carteret

2024
Selected Bibliography: O'Neil, Megan E. Forces of Nature: Ancient Maya Arts from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Beijing Shi: Wen wu chu ban she, 2018.
Magaloni, Diana, Davide Domenici, and Alyce de Carteret. We Live in Painting: the Nature of Color in Mesoamerican Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2024.

Not on view

Title: Papery Jewel (huunal uuh)
Culture: Maya
Place Made
Date Made: 450–750 CE
Medium: Jadeite
Dimensions: 2 5/8 × 2 1/8 × 1/4 in. (6.67 × 5.4 × 0.64 cm)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by Camilla Chandler Frost
Accession Number: M.2010.115.245
Classification: Stone
Collecting Area: Art of the Ancient Americas
Curatorial Notes: This jade diadem, a carved portrait of a fishlike deity in profile, may have ornamented a ceremonial bark paper headband known as a sak-huun (literally “white paper/headband”) that was worn as a crown by Classic Maya rulers. The deity is the animate essence of paper, and rulership was intrinsically linked with this material. When rulers acceded to the throne, they received their paper headband and adopted a sak-huunil k’aba’, or “white-paper name.” The Classic Maya called the diadems affixed to such headbands huunal uuh, “papery jewel,” even though they were carved of jade and other stony materials.

Alyce de Carteret

2024
Selected Bibliography: O'Neil, Megan E. Forces of Nature: Ancient Maya Arts from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Beijing Shi: Wen wu chu ban she, 2018.
Magaloni, Diana, Davide Domenici, and Alyce de Carteret. We Live in Painting: the Nature of Color in Mesoamerican Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2024.