A Rare Polychrome Nahua Effigy Censer, xantil Mesoamerica, Late Postclassic, circa 1200-1500 AD Hollow earthenware with polychrome paints representing a deity seated with wrists resting on raised knees. His hands are held open with thumb toward palms, a hole in the palm. This figure wears large symbolic plaques, one as a pectoral attached to a rope-like choker, two on his shoulders, and a bar and pendant at his nose. Resin (copal) incense was burned inside the body cavity, and the thick scented smoke emanated breath-like from holes in the hands, sides, mouth, endowing it with a supernatural life force. Although much of the surface has badly eroded, enough of the paint survives to determine that it represents a potent spirit force known as a Maquiltonal, a name meaning Five Soul in the Nahuatl language of central Mexico. The smoke emanating from the palms was especially significant since it has been recorded that the priests using these incense burners in temples or shrines used their hands to express the results of divination. Provenance: A Private Collection, New York, NY, acquired in 2002 Merrin Gallery, New York, NY Height: 23 ½ inches HID03101062020 © 2023 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved

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