ƒ RECENT CLASSIC MAYA PENDENT, 550-950 AP. AD Moss... Lot 29

ƒ RECENT CLASSIC MAYA PENDENT, 550-950 AP. AD Moss green stone Height: 6.5 cm. (2½ in.) $11000-16000 PROVENANCE Alexander Gallery, New York Private collection from the East Coast of the United States, acquired June 14, 1984 MAYAN JADE PENDANT OF THE MAIZE GOD The adroitly carved face of a dignitary shows the classic Mayan lunate, downwardcast eyes, aquiline nose and parted lips, adorned with a scalloped and pierced collar, earspools, and layered headdress composed of arched corn silk motifs with the central maize cob sunken in the sheath and fanked by beaded elements symbolic of kernels; in moss green stone, pierced laterally for suspension. The Maize God (Num Kaak) is symbolic of life itself to the ancient Maya and even their predecessors, the Olmec. The youthful Maize God's head forms an analog to the sprouting corn cob. For a similar example, see E. Benson, Pre-Columbian Art from Mesoamerica and Ecuador: Selections from Distinguished Private Collections, 1980: p. 27, no. 55. To bid, please visit the "Sales Information" section.