Item Summary

This conch shell, thought to come from the Yucatan, still contains red pigment from its use as the ink pot of a Maya calligrapher. The red letter hieroglyphs engraved into the body of the shell contain a date equivalent to March 17, 761 and the name of the Royal Calligrapher, "He of the Holy Books." This is the earliest dated American manuscript in the Princeton University Library.

Descriptive Information

Title
Maya conch shell, 761.
Call Number
C0940 (Princeton Mesoamerican Manuscripts, no. 11)
Identifier
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/hh63sz535
Date Created
761.
Format
Visual material
Extent
1 item ; 12 x 29 x 7 cm.
Provenance
Purchased from Alphonse Jax, a dealer in pre-Columbian art in New York City, in August 1970 and presented by Mr. and Mrs. Taplin to Princeton that same year.
Source Acquisition
Gift of Frank E. Taplin, Class of 1937 and Mrs. Taplin.
Rights Statement
No Known Copyright

Discovery Information

Subject
Maya language—Texts
Indigenous Studies

Physical Characteristics

File Count
24

Institutional Information

Collection
Mesoamerican Manuscripts
IIIF Manifest URL

https://figgy.princeton.edu/concern/scanned_resources/ae4f4274-f924-4605-99e7-3d6373519677/manifest