*Vase cérémoniel cylindrique

with a flared rim depicting a palace scene in which a lord seated on an elevated platform receives a newborn jaguar, offered by a figure dressed in a ritual sacrifice costume. Two assistants, kneeling with folded arms, observe the scene. The male child is chubby. His hands adorned with bracelets are in motion. His ears are those of a jaguar. He is held in the arms of a seated figure with large crossed legs, wearing a mottled, fringed cloak and a belt that stretches to the ground. His face is adorned with a pair of circles forming a mask. His mouth is slightly open and his nose aquiline. He is adorned with pearl earrings. He wears a flared straw hat decorated with strips of jaguar skin ritually held together with sacrificial knots. In front of the figure with the child stands a lord seated cross-legged on a jaguar skin cushion resting on a stepped throne. He is leaning forward. He is dressed in sumptuous clothes. The cloak is tied around his neck with feather medallions on each shoulder, probably representing symbolic instruments of self-sacrifice. He wears a beaded turban topped by a stylized bird. Behind the figure with the child, two well-built servants kneel with their arms crossed over their chest. One has his right foot on his left ankle and wears a belted loincloth. The other wears a cape with drawings. Both are wearing large turbans decorated with beaded bands. Between the figures are columns of glyphs. Beige terracotta with beige, dark brown and orange polychrome decoration Maya - Mexico, 550 - 750 AD Height: 15.4 cm Diameter of the opening: 14.3 cm Diameter of the base: 12.4 cm This vase, by its iconographic richness and its quality of execution, is a magnificent example of Maya ceramics and testifies to the technical mastery of the artists of the time. Lot presented in Temporary Importation Provenance : - Former Yvon Collet collection since 1967 - Mermoz Gallery, 2003 - Sotheby's New York sale, 17 May 1993, n°91 of the catalogue Perfect condition with wear on the back