Clay seal or stamp, with fluted decoration, with the image of a bird with a long and pointed beak, probably a hummingbird.

The decoration shows the detail of the wings, crest on the head and tail. A spiral in the center of the body.

A small spike-handle on the back.

*Central highlands, Kaminaljuyú area

Height: 9.5 cm
Length: 11.5 cm

Pre-Columbian stamps and seals

These are portable objects that combine the art of sculpture (through the relief carving of their features) and printed decoration (through their imprint with paint or in relief). In addition to being used directly for printing designs on surfaces and body decoration, seals possessed ideographic symbols through which messages could be communicated.

It is possible that seals were also made with perishable materials (such as wood, bone, and plant fibers), but those that have been preserved to this day in the Maya region are mostly made of baked clay and stone. Their shapes are varied: flat, circular, squared, rectangular, convex and concave, with a spike on the back as a handle or a notch to hold with two fingers. Another category is the cylindrical or tubular seals, fully decorated and with a hole in the center to insert a stick and roll them over a surface. Finally there are those that show the two-dimensional shape of the decorative element (animals, flowers, faces, etc.) with the edge cut.

Stamps were used to paint or print on almost all surfaces, including body decoration worn by both men and women. Likewise, they could have been used in commerce and probably as emblems of social distinction. They have a wide variety of designs and motifs, which include the animal world (zoomorphs), plants and flowers (phytomorphs), parts of the human body (anthropomorphs), imaginaries (abstract symbols) and a great variety of fretworked and geometric shapes. In other cases there are examples with figures of deities. All of these forms had a strong symbolic aspect related to the surrounding nature and their conception of the universe.

1. Exhibited at Financiera de Occidente (October 2010 – April 2011)

2. “FLORA AND FAUNA OF THE MAYAN WORLD”. ArteCentro “Graciela Andrade de Paiz”. Historic Center, Guatemala City (February 28–June 16, 2013)

3. “FAUNA OF THE MAYAN WORLD”. Interbanco art gallery. Quetzaltenango (September 10 – October 31, 2013)

4. “EXPO TATTOO 2016”. Alliance Française, Guatemala City (October 20 and 21, 2016).

5. “PRE-COLUMBIAN BIODIVERSITY, THE MYSTERIES OF THE JUNGLE. Spanish Cooperation Training Center, Antigua Guatemala (August 17, 2017- February 25, 2018)

6. “THE IMAGES OF THE MAYAN GODS IN THE 16TH CENTURY: The Encounter of Two Worlds.” Spanish Cooperation Training Center, Antigua Guatemala (July 16, 2019- March 1, 2020)

7. “MASTERWORKS BY THE PRE-COLUMBIAN ARTIST.” La Ruta Maya Foundation, Guatemala City (November 6, 2024 to May 31st, 2025)

Paredes Maury, Sofía. 2011. “Designs and Iconographic Motifs in Pre-Columbian Seals” in “Pre-Hispanic Seals, Cultural Heritage of Guatemala” Magazine of the GALERÍA GUATEMALA Series. Editorial Galería Guatemala (Year 13, number 39). G&T Continental Foundation. Guatemala. pp. 52-63.

Paredes Maury, Sofía. 2014. “El Arte de los Sellos Mayas“. Revista PubliRUTA No. 3 (28 noviembre- 11 diciembre 2014). Consorcio CRN, Guatemala.