**First Time At Auction**

Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Colima, ca. 150 BCE to 200 CE. An exemplary pottery incensario featuring the fantastical janiform figure of Tlaloc, the Aztec rain deity of lightning and thunder, standing with arms and legs spread to expose a projecting phallus. His sizable, flared headdress forms the bowl of the brazier as a spiked, arched handle rises above with a slender serpent slithering downward. Each face displays stylized features with wide eyes, sharp cheek bones, an aquiline nose, and fleshy, closed lips. The offerings made in this incensario were meant to guarantee the harmony of nature, the continued favor of the god. One is tempted to throw something in just to see what would happen. Size: 4.4" W x 10" H (11.2 cm x 25.4 cm)

Cf. Walters Art Museum (48.2803) and Museo Amparo (52 22 MA FA 57PJ 1467).

Provenance: private Charlotte collection, North Carolina, USA; ex-Arte Primitivo, New York City, New York, USA, June 2, 2005, lot 126; ex-Allen L. Long collection, New York City, New York, USA

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#176674

Expected light surface wear but otherwise intact and excellent with impressively preserved detail, rich earthen deposits, and nice manganese blooms throughout.