Pre-Columbian, Highlands (Chiapas, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador), Maya Late Classic Period, ca. 600 CE. A marvelous pottery plate featuring a flattened basin painted with the head of a dignitary and flared walls adorned by glyphs. The head faces left and depicts someone with an enormous cape and pectoral. The face is classically Mayan, with a prominent nose and very long, sloping forehead, representing beauty ideals that real Mayan lords seem to have cosmetically altered themselves to achieve. Feathers and a topknot rise upward and outward from the face and head. Geometric glyphs encompass the tondo, perhaps conveying a message from the ancient Maya. Size: 11.5" Diameter x 1.7" H (29.2 cm x 4.3 cm)
Painted Mayan pottery like this was used for feasting, ritual purposes, and as prestigious gifts given to emphasize the power of the giver and bind the recipient to them through a form of purchased loyalty. Maya kings and queens might give them to local governors. The artists who created them were also often minor royalty or nobility, especially the ones who could paint glyphs - literacy seems to have been reserved for the Mayan elite.
Provenance: ex-private Dunn collection, Ferndale, Michigan, USA, acquired prior to 2004
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#182048
Condition
Professionally repaired and restored with repainting over break lines; all done very well and difficult to discern. Drill hole to center and some minor chips, nicks, and abrasions as shown. Otherwise, nice presentation with good remaining pigments.