A Maya Standing Dwarf with Animal Headdress...

Description

A Maya Standing Dwarf with Animal Headdress
Mesoamerica, Late Classic Period, c. 600-900 AD

Carved from shell, this pendant depicts a dwarf wearing an elaborate headdress surmounted by an animal head-likely a deer, though the open jaws and pointed muzzle may suggest a coatimundi. This is masterful carving: the dwarf's facial features and hands are crisply incised with striking naturalism, while the animal head is animated by an open mouth. The dwarf's gesture, one hand raised and the other lowered, conveys dance, a pose associated with mythic attendants of the Maize God. In Maya belief, dwarfs were liminal beings tied to caves, creation, and supernatural power. Shell pendants of this scale and refinement are rare survivals, this example remarkable for the precision of its carving and the evocative dual imagery of man and animal. In excellent condition; pierced twice on shoulders for suspension. A superb and rare example, with unusually detailed incising.

Provenance:
Acquired by the current collection in 1989
Merrin Gallery, New York, NY
Sotheby's New York, November 27 and 28, 1984, lot 168
Jack Tanzer, New York, NY, active from the 1960's to the early 1980's

Height: 4 ¼ inches

More Information: Sources:
Grube, Nikolai, "Classic Maya Dance: Evidence from Hieroglyphs and Iconography," in Ancient Mesoamerica, vol. 3, no. 2 (Fall) 1992, pgs. 201–218.
Heyden, Doris and Fernando Horcasitas, trans., The Aztecs: The History of the Indies of New Spain by Fray Diego Durán, Orion Press, New York, 1964.
Maudslay, Alfred P., trans., The Discovery and Conquest of Mexico 1517–1521 by Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, New York, 1956.
Miller, Virginia E., "The Dwarf Motif in Classic Maya Art," Merle Greene Robertson, ed., Fourth Palenque Round Table, University of Texas Press, Austin, 1980, pgs. 141–153.
Schele, Linda, Hidden Faces of the Maya, Impetus Comunicacion S.A. de C.V., Mexico D.F., 1997, pgs. 151–184.
Smith, W. Atmar, M.D., "Achandroplasia," Journal of the South Carolina Medical Association, vol. 11, Feb. 1915, 79–85


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