01 Photograph Gallery

02 Object Information

Description

 

Style: Teotihuacan
Technique: Polychrome ceramic (pink, yellow, and white)
Origin: Pacific Coast of Guatemala, region of Tiquisate and La Gomera, Escuintla

This censer consists of a pedestal base and a truncated conical lid, richly decorated with sculptural and pictorial elements. The handle is anthropomorphic, integrating the human figure as both a functional and symbolic component.

The lid features a central figure with a red-painted face, slanted eyes, and thin eyebrows. The figure wears a large butterfly-shaped nose ornament painted in yellow, two sets of earspools on each ear, and a five-strand necklace with round beads, from which hangs a ring serving as a pectoral.

Atop the figure’s head is an elaborate headdress composed of two horizontal rows: one adorned with four-petaled flowers and the other with disks. This ensemble is framed by a decorative structure painted in red and yellow. Crowning the entire composition is a supernatural face painted in red, with long eyelashes and black scrolls resembling a mustache—possibly representing a deity or spiritual entity.

The base of the censer displays a frontal medallion and vertical flanges on each side. On the back of the lid, a tubular chimney is present, allowing the smoke to escape during ritual use.

*Piece voluntarily donated by Mr. Hector 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, Punctate

Dimensions

Total height (a and b): 90 cm

Height “a”:(Lid) 69 cm; Width “a”: 39 cm
Diameter “a”: 30.5 cm

Height “b” (base); 21 cm; Diameter “b”: 30cm

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 August 2017

Publications