LID VASE WITH POLYCHROME DESIGN OF SERPENTS... - Lot 76 - Giquello

Lot 76
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Estimation :
30000 - 40000 EUR
LID VASE WITH POLYCHROME DESIGN OF SERPENTS... - Lot 76 - Giquello
LID VASE WITH POLYCHROME DESIGN OF SERPENTS AND BIRDS Mayan culture, north-east of Petén or south-east of Campeche, Ancient Classical Guatemala-Mexico, 300-600 AD.C. Polychrome ceramic on creamy white slip H. 28 cm - D. 30,8 cm Maya polychrome lidded bowl with snakes and birds design, buffware ceramic with polychrome, Guatemala-Mexico, H. 11 in - D. 12 1/8 in Provenance: Private American Collection Acquired by the current owner in 1989 Merrin Gallery, New York Andy and Von Long Gallery, Denver, active from the 1960s to the 1980s This kind of elegant box, similar to a tall bowl with a lid with a knob handle, has a rich polychrome decoration reminiscent of the sky. The walls of this vessel, which belongs to a type well attested in the site of Tikal (although also known in that of Calakmul) in ancient classical times, bear two complex and elaborate representations of the head of a celestial "snake-dragon"1 that Mayanists call the "Zip monster", the fact that in the classical Mayan calendar this dragon-like creature which -in the night sky- would represent more particularly the ecliptic (i.e. the axis, apparent from the Earth, through which the stars in orbit around the Sun pass) is the patron of the "twenty" Zip, the third "month (of 20 days)" of the Mayan year. Parallel to the container, its lid bears two representations of a pair of birds symbolizing the sun, embraced by the neck: the quetzal k'uk', recognizable by its hoopoe and small hooked beak, and the ara mo', whose turtle-like beak and circled eyes are characteristic. The name of the Tikal-born king and founder of the Copanecan dynasty Yax K'uk' Mo', the "primordial quetzal-ara" (426-437), is a famous echo of this solar symbol. At the top, the handle knob carries a variation on the logogram of the star2, of value 'EK' "star (generic), star (other than the Sun or the Moon)". JMH 1 - Mayan "dragons" have the notorious characteristic that
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