• 1 Ajaw 3 Chakat (17 March, 761 CE)

Extent:
  • 1 item ; 12 x 29 x 7 cm.
Format:
Abstract:
  • This conch shell, thought to come from the Yucatan, still contains red pigment from its use as the ink pot of a Maya calligrapher. The red letter hieroglyphs engraved into the body of the shell contain a date equivalent to March 17, 761 and the name of the Royal Calligrapher, "He of the Holy Books." This is the earliest dated American manuscript in the Princeton University Library.
Subject:
Provenance:
  • Purchased from Alphonse Jax, a dealer in pre-Columbian art in New York City, in August 1970 and presented by Mr. and Mrs. Taplin to Princeton that same year.
Edm rights:
  • No Known Copyright
View in catalog:
Curator's notes:

  • Classic Maya
    Isla Jaina, México, 761, conch shell

    Maya writing, developed as early as the third century BCE, has been deciphered to a significant extent by modern scholarship. It was used in so-called codices, or written or carved onto ceramics, wood, or walls. The displayed conch shell, incised with Maya glyphs, was probably used as an ink pot and still retains ancient red pigment. These glyphs record the date of March 17, 761 CE as well as the name of the royal calligrapher, “He of the Holy Books.” This entry uses reconstructed Classic Maya; previously, the reading of the date glyphs was 1 Ahau 3 Sip.

    Gift of Frank E. Taplin, Jr. ’37, and Ms. Taplin, 1970
    Princeton Mesoamerican Manuscripts, no. 11

    For further reading

    Bush, Alfred L. “Cover note.” Princeton University Library Chronicle 53, no. 3 (1992): 345-8.

    Coe, Michael D. The Maya scribe and his world. New York: The Grolier Club, 1973.

Exhibit category:
Genre:
  • Manuscripts, Maya Mexico 8th century.