A Concurrent Study of Two Maya Incensarios

Lunchtime Lecture

Tags for: A Concurrent Study of Two Maya Incensarios
  • Lecture
Tuesday, September 6, 2022, 12:00 p.m.
Location:  Gartner Auditorium
Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
Gartner Auditorium

Incensario (Incense Burner) Support (detail), 600–900. Mesoamerica, Maya, Palenque region, Classic period (AD 250–900) or modern. Earthenware with pigments; 92.1 x 48.3 x 24.8 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1965.248

About The Event

Come to the CMA for a quick bite of art history. Every first Tuesday of each month, join curators, conservators, scholars, and other museum staff for 30-minute talks on objects currently on display in the museum galleries. 

Many Pre-Columbian objects are categorized solely by their iconography, given that there is little documentation of when and where they were retrieved. To combat this, conservators and conservation scientists perform technical analysis to provide a deeper understanding of these objects and to inform how they are conserved and exhibited. Join Elena Mars, the CMA’s Samuel H. Kress Fellow in objects conservation, as she discusses her study of two painted earthenware Maya incensarios (incense burner supports) and how she used a variety of techniques to determine their authenticity. 

All education programs at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Education. Principal support is provided by Dieter and Susan M. Kaesgen. Major annual support is provided by Brenda and Marshall Brown, David and Robin Gunning, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, Gail C. and Elliott L. Schlang, Shurtape Technologies, and the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation. Generous annual support is provided by an anonymous donor, Gini and Randy Barbato, the M. E. and F. J. Callahan Foundation, Dr. William A. Chilcote Jr. and Dr. Barbara S. Kaplan, Char and Chuck Fowler, the Giant Eagle Foundation, Robin Heiser, the late Marta and the late Donald M. Jack Jr., Bill and Joyce Litzler, the Logsdon Family Fund for Education, Sarah Nash, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill, the Pickering Foundation, William Roj and Mary Lynn Durham, Betty T. and David M. Schneider, the Sally and Larry Sears Fund for Education Endowment, Roy Smith, Paula and Eugene Stevens, the Trilling Family Foundation, and the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art.