The Yaxchilan Lintels
- Gallery: Room 27
- Culture: Classic Maya; Late Classic
- Date: 755-770
- Object type: lintel
- Materials: limestone
- Museum number: Am1923,Maud.2
- 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 period. This piece, known as Lintel 16, features a powerful scene: Bird Jaguar IV stands proudly, wearing the same warrior costume as his father in an earlier lintel. In his right hand, he holds a spear, while a captive kneels below him. The captive holds a broken parasol, a symbol of status and defeat.
This lintel, like many others from Classic Maya times, captures the grandeur and rituals of royal life. The intricate carving and expressive details speak to the artistic skill of Late Classic Maya craftsmen, who worked in limestone to tell stories of power and ceremony.
Bird Jaguar IV, shown here, was an important ruler whose reign was marked by ritual bloodletting, noble captives, and royal celebrations. The lintel connects him not only with past tradition but also with future legacy—his son, Shield Jaguar II, was born just days after this moment was carved into stone.
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.
New, in beta. British Museum support has just launched and is still improving: over 1,000 objects so far, with more added all the time.
