Pre-Columbian Maya portrait head in stucco, ca. 600-900 CE.- Major architectural facades and roof combs of temples were often ornately decorated with glyphic and figurative elements modelled in stucco. The ancient Maya created these naturalistic images from limestone, lime and water (sahcab), and they were carefully worked while wet and flexible before they hardened. Portrait images, such as this magnificent example, were modeled over a stone core. Here we see the powerful image of a male ruler with piercing eyes, aquiline nose and open mouth. His wide face is framed by large ear flares and a diadem of plaques and beads; two locks of hair hang down freely by his ears. The whole image was once painted in red, a sacred color which symbolized the cardinal direction of the east where the sun was reborn every day. A monumental and regal example of ancient Maya portraiture. Ex. L. Mazariegos Collection, Fl. 15" x 16"