Pre-Columbian, Maya territories, Late Classic, ca. 550 to 900 CE. Wow! A wonderful example of a cylinder vessel, brightly polychrome, with three carved black relief symbols depicting the head of a mythical creature, probably Kukulkan (Quetzalcoatl), spaced at regular intervals around the upper body. A painted ring of black and red repeated rectangles is around the rim; a raised band with glyph-like symbols is below that. Images of a lordly figure wearing an incredibly elaborate feathered headdress are repeated below that. Another raised band of pottery, also decorated with glyph-like symbols, is just above the elongated rectangular tripod feet of the vessel. Size: 6.75" W x 6.85" H (17.1 cm x 17.4 cm)

For the Maya, extraordinary ceramic vases like this example were gifted to elite individuals, akin to the gifts exchanged between high profile dignitaries today. Cylinders were a functional gift, created by artist/scribes who came from elite families and who took pains to recreate the stories of Mayan mythology and religion as well as to depict royal and godly personages in their artwork. This artwork reinforced the ruling ideology and reminded the viewer of what was valuable in Mayan society. Today, they teach us about the stories that were important to the Maya and also give us clues to how elite people lived and dressed. Scholars have painstakingly worked to decipher the meaning of the iconography and glyphs painted on cylinder jars and we know much more about them than we did even twenty years ago.

Provenance: private Lexington, Kentucky, USA; ex. Dr. Raymond Thomas collection

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#130114

Repaired from multiple pieces, with repairs well done and difficult to see. Root marks and manganese deposits.