Gift of Ingeborg de Beausacq

Gift of Ingeborg de Beausacq

Gift of Ingeborg de Beausacq

Gift of Ingeborg de Beausacq

Elaborate incensario or incense burner lid in the form of a male bust wearing a spectacular headdress with three discs, two feathered quetzal eyes and three bundles of spear ends. The figure wears large circular ear spools and a removable trapazoidal talud-tablero style nose ornament. He carries a blade-like object in the left hand and a bundle of spear ends in the right, suggesting a warrior figure. White, buff, yellow, ochre and red paint are still visible throughout the piece. Teotihuacan-style incense burners usually consist of two basic sections: an hourglass-shaped base (missing) and an elaborate chimney lid. Incense burners from Escuintla, Guatemala generally have unadorned bases and elaborate lids. The presence of Teotihuacan-style incensarios on Guatemala's Pacific coast (about 900 miles away from the Valley of Mexico), attest to the success of Teotihuacan expansion throughout Central America. The original molds for the decorative elements were probably brought south from Central Mexico, but assembled in a local manner typical of Escuintla.

Gift of the Ernest Erickson Foundation, Inc.

Gift of Frederic Zeller

Gift of the Ernest Erickson Foundation, Inc.

Gift of the Ernest Erickson Foundation, Inc.