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Incense burner base
Maya
Early Classic Period
A.D. 400–550
Object Place: Department of Tiquisate, Guatemala
Medium/Technique
Earthenware: unslipped
Dimensions
12.8 x 23.2 cm (5 1/16 x 9 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Landon T. Clay
Accession Number1988.1221b
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsCeramics – Pottery – Earthenware
DescriptionHourglass-shaped base for Tiquisate region Teotihuacán-style incense burner. The surface of the hourglass-shaped top is well-smoothed with no surface embellishment or sculptural decoration. This contrasts with lower section, which is extensively decorated with mold-made attachments representing feathered mirrors, Spondylus shells and flowers.
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.