“A multifaceted and illuminating account of an enigmatic group of looted monuments, this text offers a unique portrait of an eighth-century Maya sculptor and his world. In addition to considering the artistic, political, and cosmological spheres into which the works intervened, it does not shy away from modern realities of looting and the art market, laying out a persuasive case for the origin of these sculptures that will aid in their eventual repatriation.”
—Claudia Brittenham, Associate Professor of Art History, University of Chicago
“Cultural restitution—in the form of provenancing “orphaned” ancient monuments—is one of the most important endeavors in contemporary archaeology, art history, and epigraphy. In this book a group of leading scholars combine their considerable expertise to show how the meaning and context of a superb work of purloined art can be illuminated and restored.”
—Simon Martin, Penn Museum and the University of Pennsylvania
“Houston and his coauthors have written a unique and compelling study of a Classic Maya sculptor, Mayuy. They combine formal, iconographic, epigraphic, and contextual evidence to produce a biography of sorts from four magnificent lintel sculptures done over an extended time period, highlighting the important emergence of self-identification by Maya artists.”
—Thomas B.F. Cummins, Director and Professor of Pre-Columbian and Colonial Art, Dumbarton Oaks
“A timely and important story.”
~Andrew James Hamilton, Apollo
“An impressively informative combination of archeology and art, A Maya Universe in Stone is a critically important and significant contribution to the study of Pre-Columbian Mayan culture.”
~Michael Dunford, Midwest Book Review
“This beautifully produced and richly illustrated book provides the most detailed analysis to date of the Laxtunich lintels and related sculptures. One hopes that the astonishingly complex lintels carved by Mayuy may one day be returned to their places of origin. The work of Houston and colleagues takes us several steps closer to this goal.”
~Megan E. O’Neil, Current World Archaeology
“Intriguing, beautifully illustrated academic study of Laxtunich and its significance for Maya studies.”
~Andrew Robinson, Minerva
“This book is beautifully illustrated in black-and-white and color, with a fine selection of other art from the period. Valuable to specialists and anyone interested in pre-Columbian art.”
“These authors resourcefully assemble highly diverse lines of evidence to interrogate and explain the Mayuy lintels while simultaneously contributing meaningfully to broader topics in the field in numerous ways.”
~Bryan R. Just, Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture
