The theme of a human with slightly feline features caring for a jaguar is clearly Olmec, but the pointed beard without any texture implies a post-Olmec sculptural tradition (Easby and Scott 1970, cat. 68). Maya kings commonly associated themselves with the jaguar, which lives in caves and moves easily on land and in water (all cosmologically significant places in Mesoamerican thought), thus conveying enormous power.

References:
Easby, Elizabeth Kennedy, and John F. Scott. 1970. Before Cortés: Sculpture of Middle America. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Coggins, Clemency C. 1985. In Gallencamp and Johnson, Maya, 105.


Figure Holding Jaguar Club
Tamahú, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, 400-200 BC
Fuchsite, 20 cm
Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala City


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