**Originally Listed At $5000**

Pre-Columbian, Highlands (Chiapas, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador), Maya, Late Classic Period, ca. 550 to 950 CE. A superb pottery plate of sizable form, skillfully hand-painted with a standing dignitary wearing a massive feather backrack and pierced with a ceremonial kill hole. Enveloped by the magnificent plumage of his wings, the figure faces right wearing an elaborate, towering topknot and headdress, as well as a loin cloth with long sashes, and basketry sandals. A glyph is shown to the left of his feet, perhaps identifying him. His visage e is classically Mayan, with a prominent nose and long, sloping forehead, representing beauty ideals that real Mayan lords may have cosmetically altered themselves to achieve. Though it is unknown whether this represents a specific dignitary or deity, the figure bears a remarkable resemblance to the winged Maya warriors at the archeological site of Ek'Balam. Size: 17.8" Diameter x 4.2" H (45.2 cm x 10.7 cm)

Elaborate plates like this one were designed to be instantly distinguishable from those used for everyday eating or drinking - not just in decoration, but also in quantity produced, making these a much rarer find than a piece of domestic pottery. Instead, a bowl like this one would be ritually "sacrificed" by having a hole put through its center, as seen in this example. It would then be placed into a tomb as an offering.

Painted Mayan pottery like this was used for feasting, ritual purposes, and as prestigious gifts given to emphasize the power of the giver and bind the recipient to them through a form of purchased loyalty. Maya kings and queens might give them to local governors. The artists who created them were also often minor royalty or nobility, especially the ones who could paint glyphs - literacy seems to have been reserved for the Mayan elite. The image of the lord ready for the ballgame may reference the processions that were held by the sponsors of the game prior to its brutal play, when feathers were probably not worn.

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Provenance: ex-Arte Primitivo, New York, New York, USA, December 12, 2022, lot 175; ex-John A. Stokes collection, New York, USA; ex-Sotheby's New York, sale 7057, November 24, 1997, lot 154; ex-private European collection

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#176728

Some restoration and repainting along fissures, as well as expected nicks and abrasions commensurate with age. Otherwise, excellent with nice remaining pigments.