88 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



process, as in basketry, may impose order, but in free- 

 hand sculpture it must come from an educated sense of 

 beauty involving selection and the reproduction of the 

 finest qualities. Design at its highest is embodied in 

 the Mayan hieroglyphs. Given spaces had to be filled 

 with given symbols and the results attained were uni- 

 formly excellent. Although the influence of the ser- 



Fig. 28. Sculpture on Front of Lintel at Yaxchilan showing Man 

 holding Two-Headed Serpent with a Grotesque God's Head in each of 

 its Mouths. 



Fig. 29. Types of Human Heads on the Lintels of Yaxchilan. 



pent led to the great use of tapering flame-like masses 

 in nearly all Mayan designs, still dominant vertical 

 and horizontal lines of interest were maintained. 



The panel and lintel sculptures show composition 

 achieved by simple and subtle methods. The sweeping 

 plumes of headdresses were skilfully used to fill in 

 corners, while blocks of glyphs were placed in open 



