ƒ RECENT CLASSICAL CHOCHOLÁ MAYA VASE, ENV. 550-950... Lot 27

ƒ RECENT CLASSICAL CHOCHOLÁ MAYA VASE, ENV. 550-950 AP. Height: 12.5 cm. (4⅞ in.) $17000-19000 PROVENANCE Private American collection, in the 1970s Carolyn and Walter Foxworth Collection, Dallas, before 1990 EXHIBITIONS Dallas, Dallas Museum of Art, Chocolate Pots and Tomb Guardians from Ancient Mexico: Selections from Private Collections, June 2-November 30, 1990 Dallas Museum of Art, loan, 1990 - 2012 BIBLIOGRAPHY Freidel, D., Schele, L. and Parker, J., Maya Cosmos: Three Thousand Years on the Shaman's Path, New York, 1993, p. 194, fg. 4:9c MAYAN BLACKWARE CHOCHOLÁ VESSEL With slightly faring walls deeply and fuidly carved with a panel enclosing the Tonsured Maize God emerging from the tsuk, sacred ceiba tree, interpreted by the Maya as the axis mundi, unifying the realms of earth, death, day and night, his forehead emanating a K'awiil celt from which pours out a sweeping decorative spray of steamy smoke as the framing device for the cartridge, further decorated with water-lilies suggesting a scene of rebirth, the reverse incised with a diagonal band of fve glyphs with a dedicatory text partially translated as "[....] here, was dedicated, the surface, was carved for [...] (the name now illegible); with extensive remains of pale green stucco on the body and pink stucco on the rim, same stucco on the interior. The graphically carved youthful fgure with the smoking forehead celt or axe can be viewed as an ancestor fgure or as the mythical depiction of the Maize God emerging from the Underworld after his battle with the Lords of the Netherworld. See the website mayavase.com, K9280, for a roll-out photograph. We thank Donald Hales for his assistance with the interpretation of the iconography. To bid, please visit the "Auction Information" section.