Sotheby's, Pre-Columbian Art, sale code 6921 BINIGULAZA (New York, November 25, 1996)
","citation":"Sotheby's, Pre-Columbian Art, sale code 6921 BINIGULAZA (New York, November 25, 1996)
, lot 366","date":1996,"id":2690,"uri":"https://search.worldcat.org/title/41482980"},{"boilertext":"\"Acquisitions of the Princeton University Art Museum 2008,\" Record of the Princeton University Art Museum 68 (2009): p. 69-119.","citation":"\"Acquisitions of the Princeton University Art Museum 2008,\" Record of the Princeton University Art Museum 68 (2009): p. 69-119., p. 118 (illus.)","date":2009,"id":974,"uri":"https://www.jstor.org/stable/25747109"}],"nowebuse":"False","periods":[{"id":24016,"period":"Late Classic Period","alphasort":"Classic Period, Late","begindate":0,"enddate":0,"displayperiod":"Late Classic Period","displaydate":null}],"department":"Art of the Ancient Americas","attribute_groups":[{"id":2199317,"term":"Art of the Ancient Americas","termtype":"Collecting Area"}],"daterange":"A.D. 500-1000","dateend":800,"depicted":[],"titles":[{"title":"Head of K’inich Ajaw (the sun god)","titletype":"Primary Title","displayorder":1}],"hasimage":"true","creditlinerepro":"","objectnumber":"2008-334","inscribed":null,"texts":[{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Didactics","textentryhtml":"Although most façade stucco work from the Maya area deteriorated over the last millennia of tropical rains, fragments found in fill and select, intentionally preserved examples indicate much Classic-period ceremonial architecture was richly draped in modeled decoration. Such stucco, incorporating dense, almost 'baroque,' imagery and lengthy hieroglyphic inscriptions, served to define buildings functionally and to enliven them, effectively imbuing buildings with potent, sacred agency. This small head, boldly modeled for dramatic effect in the intense raking light of the tropical sun, provides an excellent example of this largely lost artistic tradition. \r\n\r\nThis particular sculpture portrays a major member of the Maya pantheon, the sun god (K'inich Ajaw, lit. 'sun-faced lord'), portrayed in prototypical fashion. K'inich Ajaw's diagnostic iconography includes crossed eyes with squared pupils within over-sized orbits, a so-called 'Roman' nose, a single central shark tooth in the upper gum or, more commonly, a pair of teeth filed to together form a T shape (a sign for breath), breath-curls emanating from the corners of the mouth, and a conventionalized quadripartite symbol for sun (k'in), infixed either on the forehead (frontal and in-the-round representations) or on the cheek (profile depictions). \r\n\r\nGiven the pervasive penchant for stucco architectural decoration and the iconographic consistency in the rendition of deities throughout the Southern Maya Lowlands, it is difficult to determine where this stucco was made.\r\n","remarks":null},{"texttype":"Online","textpurpose":"Provenance","textentryhtml":"Robert Huber, Dixon Hall, IL, by 1963 [1]; [Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, on Feburary 2 1970, deaccessioned March 3 1996]; [Sotheby's New York Sale, November 25 1996, lot 366]; Joan Rapp, CT. [Skinner Auction Sale, May 10 2008, lot 36]; [Throckmorton Fine Art]; purchased by the Princeton University Art Museum, 2008.\n\n[1] Huber indicated he acquired the work from a \"west coast collector\".","remarks":null}],"datebegin":600,"sortnumber":"2008 334","published_date":"2026-02-11 12:10:49.902805","objectid":55772,"dimensions":"11.2 × 7.1 × 8.4 cm (4 7/16 × 2 13/16 × 3 5/16 in.)","on_view":true}