RELIQUARY FIGURE Mayan Culture, Ancient Classical... - Lot 60 - Giquello

Lot 60
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Result : 242 460EUR
RELIQUARY FIGURE Mayan Culture, Ancient Classical... - Lot 60 - Giquello
RELIQUARY FIGURE Mayan Culture, Ancient Classical Guatemala, 300-600 AD. Steatite with traces of cinnabar H. 19,5 cm - L. 9,8 cm Maya seated reliquary figure, steatite with traces of cinnabar, Guatemala, H. 7 5/8 in - W. 3 7/8 in Provenance: Private American Collection Acquired by the current owner in 2000 Galerie Lin et Émile Deletaille, Brussels Photographed by Justin Kerr in his logbook in June 1997, #K7709 Daniel Wolf, New York, July 1984 Fine Arts of Ancient Lands, New York Herbert L. Lucas, Los Angeles, May 1983 Fine Arts of Ancient Lands, New York Exhibitions: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, permanent loan from Daniel Wolf Art Museum, Princeton University, Princeton, permanent loan from Herbert L. Lucas, #L.6.83 then #L1983.6, 1983 Publications: Kerr, Justin, A Pre-Columbian Portfolio: An Archive of Photographs, mayavase.com, no. 7709a-c, added 21/11/2001 Graulich, Michel and Lin Crocker, Unpublished Masterpieces of Pre-Columbian Art, ARTS 135, Boulogne, 1985, fig. 359 Although it is believed to have been discovered in the northern lowlands of Guatemala (i.e. in the middle of the Mayan zone), this greenish steatite figurine originally painted with cinnabar is stylistically reminiscent of the productions of the Mesoamerican regions west of the Mayas, from which powerful cultural influences were exerted during the Ancient Classical period (during the "horizon" of the Ancient Classical, when the great city of Teotihuacán dominated Mesoamerica from the Mexican highlands). Thus, the features of this character do not respond to the classical Mayan canon, while the cavity in his back recalls what was possibly used to receive offerings in "reliquary" figurines. In both sculpture and painting, many figures of Teotihuacán also wear large nose ornaments hanging over the mouth. That said, this one represents a knot, which is not without evoking the Mok Chih way1 "Mout
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