Description:

Pre-Columbian, Mexico and Guatemala, Mayan Territories, Late Classic, ca. 550 to 900 CE. Carved from a hollowed-out bird bone, a fantastic example of an inhalation tube used as part of ritual drug ingestion. The body of the tube is wrapped around with multiple deeply-incised registers of glyph-like symbols. The incisions would once have been deeply filled with a dusty red cinnabar pigment, the remains of which are still visible, especially at the thinner end of the tube. This item was probably used as part of the ritual of smoking tobacco, practiced by the Maya alongside the practice of drinking the hallucinogenic alcohol called balche. Size: 0.65" W x 4.2" H (1.7 cm x 10.7 cm)

Provenance: private R.D. collection, Long Beach, California, USA collection, acquired over twenty five years from various major galleries

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#124322

  • Condition: One end is lost; small repaired area in the lower part of the bead.

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July 11, 2017 8:00 AM MDT
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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