Maya Large Hollow Mold-Made Dignitary Figure with ShieldPre-Columbian, Mexico, Maya,...
Maya Large Hollow Mold-Made Dignitary Figure with ShieldPre-Columbian, Mexico, Maya, ca. 500–800 CE. A hollow, mold-made pottery dignitary stands frontally in a floor-length hooded robe, both hands closed over a small circular shield worn at the chest. A long beaded necklace falls from the throat, flanked by disc earflares and tiered curls framing the face beneath a tall flaring headdress. The features are boldly modeled: heavy lidded eyes, a bow-shaped upper lip, parted to bare the teeth. Low-relief bands and glyph-like motifs ornament the skirt. A chalky white stucco slip covers the surface, the ground for pigment now largely lost. Figures of this scale were pressed in two-part molds and joined at the seams, and likely served as offerings or grave furniture, portraying a robed elite or impersonator rather than an individual likeness. Size: 6" W x 12.875" H (15.2 cm W x 32.7 cm H).
Late Classic Maya potters worked mold-made figurines in enormous numbers, most notably on Jaina Island off the Campeche coast, where hundreds were interred with the dead. Modest figurines of five or six inches are common; a hollow example approaching thirteen inches is genuinely uncommon, since large mold-pressed shells warp and split in the kiln and few survived firing, let alone burial.
The white stucco coating seen here is characteristic: Maya modelers finished figures with a thin lime ground and then painted them, frequently in the celebrated "Maya blue," a pigment compounded from indigo and palygorskite clay that resists fading. What reads today as a pale monochrome was originally a polychrome image, and traces of that scheme sometimes survive in recesses.
Provenance: Private CA. collection. Purchased from Rosa Corena, Sacramento, CA.
SHIPPING: We coordinate worldwide shipping in-house through specialist international forwarders experienced with fine art and antiquities customs manifests. International buyers must confirm, prior to bidding, that their country's customs authority will accept the item. All duties, taxes, clearance fees, and any costs arising from customs delays, seizures, re-export, returns, or loss in transit are the buyer's sole responsibility. Artemis assumes no liability for items refused entry, detained, or lost after export. We cannot ship ancient items to their country of origin (Egyptian to Egypt, Greek to Greece, etc.).
PAYMENT EXCEPTION: For clients not previously established with Artemis, payment for all gold, precious metal, and gemstone lots must be made by bank wire transfer or certified bank check/money order, without exception.
Item #73083A long stable hair line across the base and up both sides along the mold seams, otherwise intact.
Maya Large Hollow Mold-Made Dignitary Figure with ShieldPre-Columbian, Mexico, Maya, ca. 500–800 CE. A hollow, mold-made pottery dignitary stands frontally in a floor-length hooded robe, both hands closed over a small circular shield worn at the chest. A long beaded necklace falls from the throat, flanked by disc earflares and tiered curls framing the face beneath a tall flaring headdress. The features are boldly modeled: heavy lidded eyes, a bow-shaped upper lip, parted to bare the teeth. Low-relief bands and glyph-like motifs ornament the skirt. A chalky white stucco slip covers the surface, the ground for pigment now largely lost. Figures of this scale were pressed in two-part molds and joined at the seams, and likely served as offerings or grave furniture, portraying a robed elite or impersonator rather than an individual likeness. Size: 6" W x 12.875" H (15.2 cm W x 32.7 cm H).
Late Classic Maya potters worked mold-made figurines in enormous numbers, most notably on Jaina Island off the Campeche coast, where hundreds were interred with the dead. Modest figurines of five or six inches are common; a hollow example approaching thirteen inches is genuinely uncommon, since large mold-pressed shells warp and split in the kiln and few survived firing, let alone burial.
The white stucco coating seen here is characteristic: Maya modelers finished figures with a thin lime ground and then painted them, frequently in the celebrated "Maya blue," a pigment compounded from indigo and palygorskite clay that resists fading. What reads today as a pale monochrome was originally a polychrome image, and traces of that scheme sometimes survive in recesses.
Provenance: Private CA. collection. Purchased from Rosa Corena, Sacramento, CA.
SHIPPING: We coordinate worldwide shipping in-house through specialist international forwarders experienced with fine art and antiquities customs manifests. International buyers must confirm, prior to bidding, that their country's customs authority will accept the item. All duties, taxes, clearance fees, and any costs arising from customs delays, seizures, re-export, returns, or loss in transit are the buyer's sole responsibility. Artemis assumes no liability for items refused entry, detained, or lost after export. We cannot ship ancient items to their country of origin (Egyptian to Egypt, Greek to Greece, etc.).
PAYMENT EXCEPTION: For clients not previously established with Artemis, payment for all gold, precious metal, and gemstone lots must be made by bank wire transfer or certified bank check/money order, without exception.
Item #73083A long stable hair line across the base and up both sides along the mold seams, otherwise intact.
