Pre-Columbian, Jaina/Campeche Mexico, Maya, Late Classic Period, ca. 600 to 900 CE. So mesmerizing, this fine handbuilt bi-chrome figure depicts a standing Maya lord wearing a loin cloth and sash as well as an elaborate headdress. He also presents a fan delineated in an almost tulip-shaped form with fine incised details over his left arm. The elite figure's visage is one of focused concentration or prayer with closed eyes, a noble prominent nose, slightly parted full lips, scarification marks, and what appears to be a goatee on his chin. Liberal traces of red pigment remain. Size: 6.25" H (15.9 cm); 6.5" H (16.5 cm) on included custom stand.

Jaina figures, from an island off the Yucatan peninsula, are noted for their lifelike faces and their immense detail. Scholars believe that these figures probably represented actual people and were produced in Campeche and brought to Jaina Island to be buried with the deceased. Fascinatingly, the people around Jaina are the only people in southeastern Mesoamerica who put human figures into graves - everywhere else in the region, figures have only been found in domestic contexts. The Spaniard Diego de Landa, who recorded details of Maya life shortly after the Spanish Conquest, wrote that the artists who created pieces like this one lived lives of religious isolation and ritual, both fasting and abstaining.

Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-private P.K. Lehnert collection, San Antonio, Texas, USA

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#148350

Possible loss to end of fan. Nicks to headdress ornaments. Figure may have been repaired with restoration over the breaklines, but if so, this was professionally executed and it is difficult to discern break lines. Expected surface wear commensurate with age, but liberal traces of red pigment remain.