Human effigy incense burner top
Maya
Early Classic Period
A.D. 400–550
Object Place: Department of El Petén, Guatemala, Tikal area
Dimensions
54.61 cm (21 1/2 in.)
Accession Number
1988.1249
Medium or Technique
Earthenware: black, red and white slip paint
On View
Ancient Central America Gallery (Gallery LG32)
Collections
Classifications
A seated male figure, likely a Maya ruler, wears a zoomorphic headdress surmounted by a cartouche in which originally was painted his name (now eroded). He wears a large pectoral depicting a human face, which may represent the Maize god, and holds a human heart in his hands. Suspended from his nose is a crossed-bands and triangle icon. His body is painted black (now mostly eroded). See 1988.1226a and 1988.1228a for nearly identical objects.
Provenance
Collected between 1974 and 1981 by John Fulling, Art Collectors of November, Inc., Florida (and known as the "November Collection"); to Landon T. Clay, Boston, Massachusetts, in 1987; to MFA, December 1988, gift of Landon T. Clay.
Credit Line
Gift of Landon T. Clay