SILEX "EXTERNAL" Mayan Culture, Mexico-Guatemala Recent... - Lot 68 - Giquello

Lot 68
Go to lot
Estimation :
200000 - 250000 EUR
Result with fees
Result : 216 220EUR
SILEX "EXTERNAL" Mayan Culture, Mexico-Guatemala Recent... - Lot 68 - Giquello
SILEX "EXTERNAL" Mayan Culture, Mexico-Guatemala Recent Classical, 600-900 A.D. Silex brown H. 39.2 cm Maya Eccentric Flint, brown flint, Mexico-Guatemala, H. 15 1/2 in Provenance: Private American collection Acquired by the current owner in 2004 Bernard Dulon, Paris Galerie Voutat, Geneva, 2004 Private collection, Switzerland, 1950s What Mayanists call "eccentrics" are objects of obsidian or carved flint that were not utilitarian instruments but had a religious purpose linked to building inauguration rituals, although their precise function remains an open question today. Indeed, they are most often found in caches associated with stelae, their altars or as foundation deposits for the reconstruction of buildings. It's much rarer to find them in graves. They usually appear as fine, delicate blades, but the most spectacular of them represent animals or human beings. Among the latter, the largest (and "eccentric") appear to be real technical feats of strength. They depict elite figures wearing high headdresses and have a base indicating that they were shackled, probably to serve as scepter heads at some point. Another of their peculiarities is a strange multiplication of faces: this one has two faces and the second one seems to appear as a severed head, presented in the hands of the character. This figure bears on his forehead the double scroll of the pictogram of fire and smoke, symbolizing the "god K" K'awiil1. In addition, he wore on the back of his belt a "back gear" (pat-pik in classical Mayan, literally a "back skirt"), which was a representation of the universe presenting him as a lieutenant of cosmic forces. It is thus clear that the character depicted by this "eccentric flint" was a king. JMH 1 - Divinity of political power among the Mayas since the beginning of the classical era (in the fourth century), the god K'awiil would be the Mayan emulator of Tezcatlipoca, the god of empire and war among
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue