01 Photograph Gallery

02 Object Information

Description

 

Theater-Type Incensario Lid – Teotihuacan Style
Polychrome ceramic | Pacific Coast of Guatemala (Tiquisate and La Gomera, Escuintla)

Incense burner in the Teotihuacan style. The lid features the face of a figure wearing a headdress adorned with floral and circular appliqués in white, pink, and yellow. The figure’s hair is painted yellow, and the face is red, with a zoomorphic butterfly-shaped nose ornament.

The figure holds what appear to be ritual knives, decorated with phytomorphic, zoomorphic, and geometric motifs. A chimney is located at the back of the lid, a functional element typical of this type of incensario.

The pedestal base is decorated with a stylized butterfly motif, reinforcing the symbolic association of butterflies with warfare in Mesoamerican iconography.

*Piece voluntarily donated by Mr. Héctor Santamarina Herrera

Period

CLASSIC (150/200 A.D.-900 A.D.) Early Classic (150/200- 650 AD).

Provenance

Pacific Coast of Guatemala

Medium / Material

Clay

Technique

Appliqué / application, Grooving, Incised, Modeled, Molded, Painting

Dimensions

Total Height (base and lid): 85.5 cm

Base “a”
Height: 59 cm; Width: 55.5 cm
Diameter: 36 cm

Lid “b”
Height: 26.5 cm; Diameter: 36.5 cm

03 References and Exhibitions

References to similar objects

Similar objects have been found on the Pacific Coast of Guatemala, especially in the area of ​​Tiquisate and La Gomera, Escuintla, dating for the Early Classic
period, especially from 350 – 550 A.D. (Reents-Budet; Headrick and Bishop, 2017)

 

Bove, Frederick J. 2000. Teotihuacan y la Costa del Pacífico de Guatemala: La ideología de estructura política. En XIII Simposio de Investigaciones Arqueológicas en Guatemala, 1999 (editado por J.P. Laporte, H. Escobedo, B. Arroyo y A.C. de Suasnávar), pp.117-131. Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etnología, Guatemala (versión digital).

Reents-Budet, Dorie; Annabeth Headrick and Ronald Bishop. 2017. “Entangled Ideologies on the Pacific Coast: the Teotihuacan-style Maya censers from the Department of Escuintla, Guatemala”. Presented at The 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver, British Columbia. 2017 ( tDAR id: 431290)

Exhibitions

Piece exhibited in the lobby of the Hyatt Centric Guatemala Hotel since October 24, 2022

Publications