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Human effigy incense burner top
Maya
Early Classic Period
A.D. 350-550
Object Place: Tikal area, Department of El Petén, Guatemala
Medium/Technique
Earthenware: black, red, orange, and white slip paint
Dimensions
56 cm height (22 1/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Landon T. Clay
Accession Number1988.1226a
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsCeramics – Pottery – Earthenware
A Maya ruler and a deity (or deity impersonator) hold human hearts, implying their duty to provide life-giving blood to ensure cosmic and earthly life.
DescriptionSeated male figure, likely portraying a Maya ruler in the guise of a deity associated with blood sacrifice, wears a zoomorphic headdress surmounted by a cartouche in which originally was painted his name or noble title (now eroded). He wears a large pectoral depicting a humanoid face, which may represent the Maize god, and holds a human heart in his hands. His body is painted red. See 1988.1228a and 1988.1249 for other nearly identical figural sculptures.
ProvenanceBetween about 1974 and 1981, probably purchased in Guatemala by John B. Fulling (b. 1924 – d. 2005), The Art Collectors of November, Inc., Pompano Beach, FL; May 20, 1987, sold by John B. Fulling to Landon T. Clay, Boston; 1988, year-end gift of Landon Clay to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 25, 1989)
NOTE: This is one in a group of Maya artifacts (MFA accession nos. 1988.1169 – 1988.1299) known as the “November Collection” after John Fulling’s company, the Art Collectors of November, Inc. John Fulling sold this group of objects to MFA donor Landon Clay in 1987, and they were given to the Museum the following year.
Evidence suggests that John Fulling built the November Collection from sources in Guatemala between 1974 and 1981. Only a portion of what he acquired during this time came to the MFA in 1988. It is not possible to determine precisely which objects were acquired when or from whom.
NOTE: This is one in a group of Maya artifacts (MFA accession nos. 1988.1169 – 1988.1299) known as the “November Collection” after John Fulling’s company, the Art Collectors of November, Inc. John Fulling sold this group of objects to MFA donor Landon Clay in 1987, and they were given to the Museum the following year.
Evidence suggests that John Fulling built the November Collection from sources in Guatemala between 1974 and 1981. Only a portion of what he acquired during this time came to the MFA in 1988. It is not possible to determine precisely which objects were acquired when or from whom.