**Originally Listed At $800**

Pre-Columbian, Guatemala, Maya, Late Classic Period, El Quiche type, ca. 600 to 900 CE. A pottery burial urn or incensario in a style known as the Quiche (K'iche') Type, from highland Guatemala, featuring a cylindrical body and matching feline lid! The mold made cat is a representation of a fierce jaguar - faint remains of black spots are painted over the ochre surface. Unlike many other ancient civilizations, the Maya did not have cemeteries or necropolises; instead, they buried both human remains and ritual urns and vessels such as this, often filled with offerings, jade, beads, and other precious items. The jaguar was revered by the Maya as the mightiest wild feline and thought to possess supernatural powers to cross to the underworld, acting as mediators between this world and the afterlife - a fitting symbol for this funerary vessel! Size: 3.75" Diameter x 7" H (9.5 cm x 17.8 cm)

Caches of such vessels have been found in floors, in the fill of buildings, or set into walls. Vessels with lids seem to have been symbolic of houses or structures to the Maya, meaning that these vessels served as symbolic offerings of the buildings they were buried inside, able to be filled with offerings of food or drink, sanctifying the construction.

Provenance: ex-Marc Amiguet Schmitt estate, Amiguet's Ancient Art, Evansville, Indiana, USA, acquired prior to January 1, 2010

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#175062

Stable hair line fissures in the lid rim and loss to jaguar ear. Chipping and fading to pigments, but good remains throughout. Light earthen deposits on interior.