01 Photograph Gallery

02 Object Information

Description

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

This censer features a biconic pedestal base, resembling an hourglass, and a sculptural lid of theatrical style. The base includes a circular medallion painted in red and yellow, adorned with lateral fringes and vertical flanges on each side.

The lid contains a central enclosure in which a figure is depicted holding, with both hands, ceremonial scepters topped with owl heads. The figure’s face appears fleshless, suggesting the use of a detachable red mask, complemented by a butterfly-shaped nose ornament.

The headdress, forming the upper frame of the censer, is decorated with floral appliqués and two owl masks that flank a stylized face of a supernatural butterfly or a moth —an element symbolically associated with warfare. This composition reinforces the ritual and possibly funerary significance of the object.

*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

Dimensions

Total height: (a y b): 70.5 cm

Height a (Lid): 45.8 cm; Width a; 17 cm
Diameter a: 34.5 cm

Height b (Base): 25.5 cm; Diameter b: 35.5 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

1. “TREASURES OF THE MAYAN SPIRIT.” LA Art & Antique Show. LA Convention Center, California (January 4–9, 2014)

2. “TREASURES OF LA RUTA MAYA.” Quiroa gallery, Paseo de los Museos, Hotel Casa Santo Domingo, Antigua Guatemala (August 30–November 9, 2014)

3. Piece exhibited in the lobby of the Hyatt Centric Guatemala Hotel from August 2017 to April 4, 2025

Publications