The Yaxchilan Lintels
- Gallery: Room 27
- Culture: Classic Maya; Late Classic
- Date: 770; 8thC
- Object type: lintel
- Materials: limestone
- Museum number: Am1923,Maud.3
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
Before you is "The Yaxchilan Lintels," a carved limestone lintel from the Classic Maya civilization. You're looking at Lintel 17, which shows Bird Jaguar IV and one of his wives, Lady Balam-Ix, participating in a bloodletting ritual. Bird Jaguar is seated with rich jade ornaments, a skull and serpent headdress, and what appears ready to be a tool for self-sacrifice. Opposite him, Lady Balam-Ix kneels, passing a rope through her tongue to draw blood—a solemn act of devotion. The scene is rich with intricate details, from the ceremonial jewelry to the hieroglyphic inscription, which records the ritual's significance. Created in the late 8th century in what is now Mexico, this lintel gives rare insight into the spiritual practices and royal iconography of the Maya.
See it in person
The Yaxchilan Lintels is on display in Room 27 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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