Extremely rare yoke used during the rituals preceding... Lot 72

Extremely rare yoke used during the rituals preceding or closing the ceremonies associated with ball games. Shaped on the side of the head of the god Itzamna in the form of a man in his prime. This god is one of the most important deities of the Mayan pantheon, he was the son of Hunab, god creator of all things. He is presented here as a kind old man with hollow cheeks and a prominent bushy nose. Itzamna was the god of the night and day sky. He was the inventor of writing and teaching medicine to healers, he was a benevolent deity worshiped rather by the wealthy classes of the kingdom. Beige terracotta, light shine at one end, broken, glued on the upper part 30 X 32 X 15.5 cm Provenance: Fine Arts of Ancient Lands, 1980's