Description:

Pre-Columbian, Southern Mexico to Guatemala, Maya, Late Classic Period, ca. 550 to 900 CE. A hand-built and highly burnished pottery bowl of squat, carinated form decorated with polychrome pigment. Within the basin is an elaborately painted figure, perhaps a king, seated upon a head-shaped throne with a projecting tongue. His white upper body is dotted with large red spots while black spots adorn his orange-hued legs, and his red face and coiffure imbue him with a distinguished presentation as he holds his right arm out. Painted in red around the rim exterior are 3 abstract glyphs representing a mythological rain and water deity known as the Water Lily Serpent (also the Imix Monster), perhaps to show the king's symbolic control over meteorological forces. Size: 8" W x 3.3" H (20.3 cm x 8.4 cm)

Cf. another Water Lily Serpent motif at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, accession number M.2010.115.572.

Provenance: ex-Marc Amiguet Schmitt estate, Amiguet's Ancient Art, Evansville, Indiana, USA, acquired prior to January 1, 2010

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#175134

  • Condition: Abrasions, pitting, nicks, and light fading to pigment commensurate with age, with several petite spalls, and a few perforations within the basin, otherwise intact and very good. Great preservation to decorative motifs and pigment in most areas.

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October 20, 2022 8:00 AM MDT
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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