Two Maya Polychrome Vases... (Total: 2 )

Description

Two Maya Polychrome Vases
Ulúa Valley, Honduras or El Salvador, c. 500-800 AD

Each raised on three short feet, these two vases present richly inventive painted imagery characteristic of the Ulúa tradition. The first is especially intricate, with a deeply carved geometric band beneath the rim and broad figural scenes on the body. On each side, two elaborately costumed figures wearing jaguar-face masks bow toward one another, while a hunched elderly figure seated within a pavilion presides over the exchange. Each of the standing figures holds an elaborate plumed shield or staff. The composition is dense and ceremonially charged, combining courtly ceremony, costume, and architecture in a highly sophisticated painted field.

The second vase is more enigmatic and structurally daring. Its three principal scenes appear to center on elaborate throne-like or architectural constructions containing a seated figure or linear personage within a ceremonial enclosure. At the right edge of each, a great open serpent jaw may define or frame a doorway into the cluttered space. Between these constructions appears a strange upside-down zoomorph, with a head suggestive of turtle or serpent imagery turned upward. The black ground gives the scenes a nocturnal or underworld atmosphere, while two decorative bands encircle the rim above. Together, the pair offers an exceptional contrast between narrative courtly imagery and a more cryptic visionary mode, both rendered with remarkable assurance.

The first repaired from several original parts, with restoration over the break lines and a 1/2 x 3/4 inch patch of slipped surface flaked away near the lower side. The second in very good, intact condition aside from a few small rim flakes and a stable hairline crack.

Provenance:
Collection of Walker Murray Randle, Granbury, TX
Further provenance of the second:
A Private Australian collection

Heights: 7 ½ inches each

Estimate: $1,200 - $1,800.

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