Recursion and Reflexivity in an Image: An Analysis of Yaxchilan's Panel VII, Stairway 2

This paper presents an analysis of the ‘image-within-an-image’ in Panel VII of Hieroglyphic Stairway 2 from Structure 33 at the ancient Maya city of Yaxchilan, considering the position it occupies in the set of panels and its integration into its architectural setting. It will also examine the narrative registered in the embedded text, and the subject of both text and image, and it will argue that the recursive device of ‘image-within-an-image’ in the panel extends to the totality of the staircase with the other twelve panels that compose it, and to the probable ritual activity celebrated on it. The analysis will provide an opportunity to explore recursion and self-referentiality and their implications for insights on ritual and personhood among Late Classic Maya, as well as its implications for understanding Maya art from Classic Period. To do this, I will build on an anthropology of art approach and its notion that visual devices may elicit ontological conceptions. The analysis and interpretation of Yaxchilan’s Panel VII will be in dialogue with previous works from authors such as Stuart, Taube and Houston, regarding Classic Maya personhood, ritual operations of ‘personification’ and ‘invocation’ and the understanding of a Maya perspective of ‘image’ elicited through their art and texts.