Brown zoomorphic stamp representing a frog decorated with grooves and punched depressions. It has pointed mouth and round and open eyes.

Its limbs are flexed on each side, with the fingers marked by grooves.

Tapered handle on the back.

*APECUGUA Collection

Height: 3 cm
Width: 3.6 cm
Length: 5.6 cm

These are portable objects that combine the art of sculpture (by the relief carving of their features) and the art of printing (through their mark with paint or impression). Stamps and seals were used to print images on almost all surfaces, including body decoration for both men and women.

Stamps were probably made of perishable materials (such as wood, bone, and plant fiber), but the ones that have survived until our day are made of clay and stone. Stamps can be flat, round, squared, rectangular, convex and concave, with a spike in the back as a handle or a notch to introduce the fingers. Cylindrical or tubular seals are fully carved and have a hole to the center to introduce a stick and roll the seal across the surface.

Seals could have been used commercially and probably as emblems of social distinction too. A wide variety of designs and motifs can be identified, such as animal forms (zoomorphs), plants and flowers (phytomorphs), body parts (anthropomorphs), imaginaria (abstract symbols) and a variety of fretwork and geometric shapes. All these forms had a strong symbolism related to the natural environment and the conception of the Universe.

1. Exhibited in the Museum of  Cultures of the South Coast, on the South Campus of the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala.

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