Maya, Mesoamerica
200 BC–200 AD
Alabaster with cinnabar
Height: 7 in (17.8 cm), Width: 5 in (12.7 cm)
Provenance: Paul Scipione, Leominster, Massachusetts, collected 1950s; J. Martinez, San Diego, California
Stone masks of the Maya Preclassic period were produced as funerary or dedicatory objects, placed with the deceased or attached to mortuary bundles as representations of the individual at the moment of transformation. Alabaster, a translucent calcium sulfate stone, was selected for its capacity to glow when held to light, a quality with clear cosmological resonance in Maya ritual thought. Conically drilled holes at the temples indicate the mask was designed for attachment, consistent with documented Preclassic funerary practice.
This mask is carved with a heavy brow, deep-set eyes, pronounced cheekbones, and age lines rendered with controlled naturalism, suggesting a portrait of a specific individual of elevated rank, most likely a ruler. Traces of cinnabar on the cheeks produce a reddish glow when the stone is exposed to light, a treatment documented in elite Maya burial contexts and associated with blood, life force, and royal identity. The 1950s Scipione provenance places this piece within the earliest period of serious collecting for Preclassic Maya material in the United States.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Maya, Mesoamerica
200 BC–200 AD
Alabaster with cinnabar
Height: 7 in (17.8 cm), Width: 5 in (12.7 cm)
Provenance: Paul Scipione, Leominster, Massachusetts, collected 1950s; J. Martinez, San Diego, California
Stone masks of the Maya Preclassic period were produced as funerary or dedicatory objects, placed with the deceased or attached to mortuary bundles as representations of the individual at the moment of transformation. Alabaster, a translucent calcium sulfate stone, was selected for its capacity to glow when held to light, a quality with clear cosmological resonance in Maya ritual thought. Conically drilled holes at the temples indicate the mask was designed for attachment, consistent with documented Preclassic funerary practice.
This mask is carved with a heavy brow, deep-set eyes, pronounced cheekbones, and age lines rendered with controlled naturalism, suggesting a portrait of a specific individual of elevated rank, most likely a ruler. Traces of cinnabar on the cheeks produce a reddish glow when the stone is exposed to light, a treatment documented in elite Maya burial contexts and associated with blood, life force, and royal identity. The 1950s Scipione provenance places this piece within the earliest period of serious collecting for Preclassic Maya material in the United States.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
