Maya Pottery Cylinder Vessel w/ Carved Glyph Bands

Pre-Columbian, Guatemala, Maya, Late Classic Period, ca. 600 to 900 CE. A beautiful hand-built and highly-burnished creamy brown pottery cylinder with a flat base, lightly-corseted walls, a deep interior cavity, and a thick rim. Two tall diagonal panels display carved abstract glyphoids in vertical panels, each a repeated face - anthropomorphic with many wrinkles, a massive nose, and a beard. This may represent the Old God, a form of the fire god worshipped throughout ancient Mesoamerica. Size: 4.05" W x 6.9" H (10.3 cm x 17.5 cm)

For the Maya, extraordinary ceramic vases like this example were gifted to elite individuals, akin to the gifts exchanged between high profile dignitaries today. Vases were a functional gift, created by artist/scribes who came from elite families and who took pains to recreate the stories of Mayan mythology and religion as well as to depict royal and godly personages in their artwork. This artwork reinforced the ruling ideology and reminded the viewer of what was valuable in Mayan society.

Provenance: ex-private C. Webster collection, Santa Fe, New Mexico USA, acquired before 2000; ex-Bill Schneider collection

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#155990
Condition Report: Remarkably intact, with a few tiny chips, nicks, and scratches on surface commensurate with age. Great deposits and root marks, especially on the interior. Much of the original pigment is lost (the panels between the carvings would have been painted at one time and the artwork is still faintly visible in a few areas). Carvings are in excellent condition.