Lot 147
Pre-Columbian, southern Mexico and northern Central America, Mayan Territories, Late Classic, ca. 550 to 900 CE. A huge plate in beautiful condition, with clear motifs of social and religious importance. In tondo is a kneeling elite figure who wears a huge headdress with dangling feathers extending from it, a large necklace made of big, round beads, trumpet-shaped earrings, and some kind of skirt/loincloth-like item at his waist. The lord's face is classically Mayan, with a prominent nose and very long, sloping forehead, representing beauty ideals suggesting that real Mayan lords may have cosmetically altered themselves to achieve. He kneels on a of two-legged stool or chair. Around the gently sloping rim are three repeated motifs of the god Kukulkan (Quetzalcoatl in Nahuatl, sometimes called Gukumatz in parts of the Maya world). Each depiction of the god has a fierce face with a long snout and horn-like projections from its forehead as well as a spray of feathers from its body. Size: 14.9" W x 14.5" H (37.8 cm x 36.8 cm); 15.8" H (40.1 cm) on included custom stand.
For the Maya, extraordinary ceramic items like this plate were gifted to elite individuals, akin to the gifts exchanged between high profile dignitaries today. Plates were a functional gift, their iconography created by artist/scribes who came from elite families and who took pains to recreate the stories of Mayan mythology and religion as well as to depict royal and godly personages in their artwork. These depictions reinforced the ruling ideology and reminded the viewer of what was valuable in Mayan society. Today, they teach us about the stories that were important to the Maya and also give us clues to how elite people lived and dressed. Scholars have painstakingly worked to decipher the meaning of the iconography and glyphs painted on cylinder jars and we know much more about them than we did even twenty years ago.
Provenance: private Illinois, USA collection
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#126894
- Condition: Two feet have been repaired. Plate surface is intact and in excellent condition, with artwork preserved to an incredible degree. Root marks on undecorated underside and limited manganese deposits on surface.
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