Description:
Pre-Columbian Polychrome Pottery Cylinder, Maya, c. 550-950 A.D., depicting a coronation ritual, the standing lord shown twice wearing different elaborate headdresses and ornaments, with a distinctive lattice work backrack, standing before him on both sides is a similarly dressed blood-letting figure, the field and rim encircled with distinctive pink glyphs, the text including the Primary Alterative painted in black, pink, and orange on a cream ground, ht. 8 3/4 in.
Provenance: Sotheby's, May 19, 1987, lot 220.
Literature: For a more detailed discussion, see this vessel pictured in Painting The Maya Universe: Royal Ceramics of the Classic Period, Dorie Reents-Budet, Duke University Press, 1994, pp. 170-71. The book is included with the lot.
Estimate $10,000-15,000