Maya, Southern Mexico/Guatemala
500 to 800 AD
Stucco plaster
Height 11 in (27.9 cm)
Provenance: J. Martinez, San Diego, CA; Allen Stone, NY, acquired in the 1960s
This stucco plaster head was made to adorn a wall within a structure of the Maya empire, which sprawled across present-day Southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Western Honduras, and the Yucatan Peninsula during the Classic period. The subject is a high-ranking male or dignitary elder, the sculpture a strong testament to the Mayan empire's tradition of monumental portraiture in stucco, a medium in which Maya artists achieved an extraordinary level of refinement and naturalism during the Classic period. The face is rendered with the characteristic elongated proportions and serene authority of Classic Maya sculptural convention.
The Allen Stone provenance is significant. Allen Stone was one of the most important American art dealers and collectors of the twentieth century, whose New York gallery and personal collection were instrumental in introducing major works of tribal, Pre-Columbian, and contemporary art to American collectors and institutions from the 1960s onward. Acquisition in the 1960s places this piece within the generation of collecting that preceded modern cultural property legislation, a critical provenance factor for Pre-Columbian material of this significance.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
Maya, Southern Mexico/Guatemala
500 to 800 AD
Stucco plaster
Height 11 in (27.9 cm)
Provenance: J. Martinez, San Diego, CA; Allen Stone, NY, acquired in the 1960s
This stucco plaster head was made to adorn a wall within a structure of the Maya empire, which sprawled across present-day Southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Western Honduras, and the Yucatan Peninsula during the Classic period. The subject is a high-ranking male or dignitary elder, the sculpture a strong testament to the Mayan empire's tradition of monumental portraiture in stucco, a medium in which Maya artists achieved an extraordinary level of refinement and naturalism during the Classic period. The face is rendered with the characteristic elongated proportions and serene authority of Classic Maya sculptural convention.
The Allen Stone provenance is significant. Allen Stone was one of the most important American art dealers and collectors of the twentieth century, whose New York gallery and personal collection were instrumental in introducing major works of tribal, Pre-Columbian, and contemporary art to American collectors and institutions from the 1960s onward. Acquisition in the 1960s places this piece within the generation of collecting that preceded modern cultural property legislation, a critical provenance factor for Pre-Columbian material of this significance.
We ship free anywhere in the world, fully insured, packed by hand.
