ƒ PAIR OF OLD CLASSIC MAYA VASES, ENV. 250-450... Lot 26

ƒ PAIR OF OLD CLASSIC MAYA VASES, ENV. 250-450 AP. Heights: 26.4 and 27.5 cm. (10⅜ and 10⅞ in.) (2) $98000-130500 PROVENANCE Alfred E. Stendahl (1915-2010), Stendahl Galleries, Los Angeles Sotheby's, New York, May 19, 1987, lot 211 Private Collection, New York, acquired at this sale Ancient Art of the New World, Miami, acquired from the latter Private Collection, New England, acquired from the latter in 2002 The Fiore Arts Collection, North America, acquired from the latter in June 2010 EXHIBITIONS Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, loan 2008 Toronto, Royal Ontario Museum, AAAP Gallery, loan, September 29, 2012 - September 28, 2014 PAIR OF MAYAN LIDDED EFFIGY VESSELS Each standing on faring latticework pedestal foot incised with a chevron pattern, the rounded sides painted with an abridged Primary Standard Sequence essentially a dedicatory formula given to important ceramics, including the glyph (cf. detail) yuhk'ib kakaw yuta, "his drinking vessel for fruity cacao", surmounted by long-necked cormorants as handles, with bright orange feathered wings fanning across the scutate lids and feathered head crests extending backward. Such Early Classic efigy vessels are noted for their lively three-dimensionality and are ideal vehicles for depicting mythological concepts. Cormorants are often represented in Mayan ceramics both painted and modeled as these aquatic birds traveled with ease among the three realms of the universe mediating from sky, the terrestrial world and with their ability to submerge eighty feet below the water, attaining the Underworld. For another similar example, see Mexicon, vol. VIII, no. 4, July 30, 1986, front cover; for polychrome examples, see Reents-Budet, Painting the Maya Universe: Royal Ceramics of the Classic Period, 1994: fgs. 6.13 and 5.25 To bid, please visit the "Sales Information" section.