Artwork Page for Incense-burner Cover

Details / Information for Incense-burner Cover

Incense-burner Cover

c. 500

Guatemala, Escuintla Region, early 6th Century

Medium
earthenware with slip and pigments
Measurements
Overall: 44.8 x 43 x 31.5 cm (17 5/8 x 16 15/16 x 12 3/8 in.)
Credit Line
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1969.25
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print

Description

This elaborate clay construction served as the cover and chimney of a basin used to burn copal incense. Although probably manufactured in what is now Guatemala, the form and fabrication are based on examples from Teotihuacan in central Mexico, hundreds of miles away. Intensive trade between the two regions, or even a Teotihuacan colony in Guatemala seems likely. The masked, dressed, and ornamented moundlike form probably represents a mortuary bundle or a cult image.
A terracotta incense burner cover depicts a central figure with large circular ornaments and a four-lobed mouth ornament. The figure wears an elaborate tiered headdress with a central disk and vertical feathered elements. A fan-like backdrop flares behind the figure, flanked by symmetrical panels with bundled shapes. At the bottom, two circular emblems with curved spokes sit above a flared base. Muted red, ochre, and off-white pigments decorate the textured surface.

Incense-burner Cover

c. 500

Guatemala, Escuintla Region, early 6th Century

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