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Incense burner base
Maya
Early Classic Period
A.D. 400–550
Object Place: Tikal area, Department of El Petén, Guatemala
Medium/Technique
Earthenware: red and white slip paint
Dimensions
16.7 x 20.1 cm (6 9/16 x 7 15/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Landon T. Clay
Accession Number1988.1228b
CollectionsAmericas
ClassificationsCeramics – Pottery – Earthenware
DescriptionColumnar base for a portrait incense burner. Its front is decorated with the face of the sun god (K'inich Ajaw). His headdress is composed of a bird's head surmounted by a wide panache of feathers, which likely represents Its'am Yeh, a supernatural being associated with the sun during the Late Preclassic and Classic periods (also known by the nickname "Principle Bird Deity") and later during the Postclassic period identified as Vukub Kakix, a supernatural bird who played a prominent role in the K'iché epic tale "Popol Vuh".
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.