Pre-Columbian, Maya Territories, Classic Period, ca. 600 to 900 CE. An impressive pottery dish with a circular flared rim and shallow basin on 3 petite feet. Painted in shades of black and russet on a terracotta ground, the ancient vessel exhibits a central tondo of an avian creature known as the Principal Bird Deity. Traditional to its iconography, the avian god displays a transformative shape and the head of a bird of prey with square eyes and an open curved beak, resembling the laughing falcon who was the harbinger of rain. An elaborate headdress with large medallion-like embellishment tops its head. Its wing is comprised of 3 long feathers and at its feet is a sinuous formation, likely representing a bicephalous snake. The godly bird is enveloped by a circular border of intricately painted glyphs that decorates the interior rim of the stunning vessel. Size: 12.5" in diameter x 3.5" H (31.8 cm x 8.9 cm)
These ancient glyphs may convey an important date, a secret message, or simply be part of the vessel's aesthetic program. According to Dorie Reents-Budet, "One of the remarkable characteristics of Classic Maya painted pottery is the use of writing as more than simply a way to communicate ideas. As in the Islamic tradition, Maya artists employed calligraphy as a prime design feature and as an integral part of the total composition… The hieroglyphic texts also were used as compositional devices, placed specifically to help define the internal tensions, balances and divisions within the pictorial field." (Dorie Reents-Budet, "Painting the Maya Universe: Royal Ceramics of the Classic Period", Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1994, page 12)
Provenance: ex-Stein collection, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, USA, acquired February 7, 2012; ex-Lost World Artifacts, Acworth, Georgia, USA
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#163974
Condition
Repairs to rims and feet with restoration over break lines. Some light nicks, abrasions, and scratches, commensurate with age. Otherwise, excellent with lovely remaining pigments.