Pre-Columbian, Mexico, Oaxaca, Monte Alban IV, Zapotec, ca. 600 to 900 CE. A greyware effigy urn depicting a seated deity or lord donning an elaborate headdress, ear ornaments, tasseled pectoral, and loin cloth/skirt - presenting a mesmerizing visage comprised of strongly modeled facial features including partially opened eyes, a protruding nose, and parted lips revealing teeth. Behind are twin censer cups. This Zapotec urn with its unique, almost sphinx-like headdress is similar to an example illustrated in Frank Boos "The Ceramic Sculpture of Ancient Oaxaca." Size: 5.5" W x 5.375" H (14 cm x 13.7 cm)

Monte Alban, a city inhabited for over a thousand years before abandonment centuries before the arrival of the Spanish, was a regional power that dominated much of the modern day state of Oaxaca and interacted with other city states in Mesoamerica, like Teotihuacan to its north. Many cultures at this time were producing ceremonial incensarios (censers), but Monte Alban's in particular were often so anthropomorphized that from the front they are difficult to tell from figural sculpture. This is in strong contrast to incensarios at Teotihuacan, which were highly abstract. Figural censers have been excavated from Monte Alban's high status tombs, where they were most likely placed as offerings for the dead.

Provenance: ex-Dr. George Wald, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, acquired in the 1960s; Dr. Wald was the recipient of the 1967 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work on the retina.

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#126159

Repaired from multiple pieces. Small losses to headdress ornaments, a few nicks here and there, but imagery is vivid, and there are nice mineral deposits on the surface.