Maya Polychrome Tripod Plate with Profile Head and Kill HolePre-Columbian,...
Maya Polychrome Tripod Plate with Profile Head and Kill HolePre-Columbian, Mexico or Guatemala, Maya, ca. 500–800 CE. A wide earthenware plate on three short nubbin supports, its shallow basin painted in orange, red, and dark brown slips over a cream ground. The central roundel holds a profile head in dark outline, crowned by a headdress of long feathered scrolls, wearing a pointed ear ornament and a broad collar above three bold circular beads. Concentric bands of red and orange, edged with dashed brown, ring the cavetto and rim. A drilled perforation pierces the center of the medallion, the "kill hole" that ritually deadened the vessel, likely when it was placed with the dead. Root marks trace the surface from long burial. Size: 13.25" Diam x 2.375" H (33.7 cm Diam x 6.0 cm H).
Tripod service plates of this scale were the tableware of Late Classic Maya elites, used for tamales and other maize foods at feasts before following their owners into the grave. The deliberate perforation of the base is a widespread Mesoamerican practice: piercing the vessel released or extinguished its animating essence so that it could accompany the deceased rather than continue to serve the living. The profile head, with its feathered headdress and jeweled collar, follows the conventions used for both courtly portraits and deity impersonators, and the painter's economy of line, a few confident brown contours filled with orange wash, is typical of workshops in the central Peten and adjacent lowlands.
Provenance: Collection of Dr. Reuven Livny, Israel. To family by descent. Acquired from Artemis, 7/10/2006. Copy of Artemis invoice.
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 #73087Overall strong root marks on the surface. Repaired from four large original pieces with restoration over the break lines, some scattered paint wear.
Maya Polychrome Tripod Plate with Profile Head and Kill HolePre-Columbian, Mexico or Guatemala, Maya, ca. 500–800 CE. A wide earthenware plate on three short nubbin supports, its shallow basin painted in orange, red, and dark brown slips over a cream ground. The central roundel holds a profile head in dark outline, crowned by a headdress of long feathered scrolls, wearing a pointed ear ornament and a broad collar above three bold circular beads. Concentric bands of red and orange, edged with dashed brown, ring the cavetto and rim. A drilled perforation pierces the center of the medallion, the "kill hole" that ritually deadened the vessel, likely when it was placed with the dead. Root marks trace the surface from long burial. Size: 13.25" Diam x 2.375" H (33.7 cm Diam x 6.0 cm H).
Tripod service plates of this scale were the tableware of Late Classic Maya elites, used for tamales and other maize foods at feasts before following their owners into the grave. The deliberate perforation of the base is a widespread Mesoamerican practice: piercing the vessel released or extinguished its animating essence so that it could accompany the deceased rather than continue to serve the living. The profile head, with its feathered headdress and jeweled collar, follows the conventions used for both courtly portraits and deity impersonators, and the painter's economy of line, a few confident brown contours filled with orange wash, is typical of workshops in the central Peten and adjacent lowlands.
Provenance: Collection of Dr. Reuven Livny, Israel. To family by descent. Acquired from Artemis, 7/10/2006. Copy of Artemis invoice.
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 #73087Overall strong root marks on the surface. Repaired from four large original pieces with restoration over the break lines, some scattered paint wear.
