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Censer stand
Censer stand

Censer stand

700–800
Object PlaceTabasco or Chiapas, Mexico
Medium/TechniqueEarthenware; traces of stucco with a dark red and "Maya Blue" paint
DimensionsOverall: 40.6 x 87.6 x 30.5 cm (16 x 34 1/2 x 12 in.)
Credit LineGift of Timothy Phillips in memory of Timothy and Katherine Sullivan
Accession number2007.840
On View
On view
ClassificationsCeramics
Collections
Description
Modeled incense-burner stands adorned the stairways and entrances of Maya temples. This support portrays the Maya universe; the main figure symbolizes the sun of the Underworld who stands on a turtle, embodying the earth. The profile figures recall "bacabs," supernaturals who support the sky.  A dish holding burning coals and incense would be placed atop the stand.
ProvenanceBy 1959, Jay C. Leff (b. 1925 – d. 2000), Uniontown, PA [see note 1]; May 31, 1975, Leff sale, Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, lot 371. 1975, possibly sold by Don Luis Percival (b. 1908 - d. 1979), Montecito, CA, to Michael Haskell (dealer), Montecito, CA [see note 2]; 1998, sold by Michael Haskell to Ancient Art of the New World, Inc., New York; 1999, sold by Ancient Art of the New World, Inc., to Timothy Phillips, Boston; 2007, gift of Timothy Phillips to the MFA. (Accession Date: December 12, 2007)

NOTES:
[1] Included in the exhibitions "Exotic Art, from Ancient and Primitive Civilizations: Collection of Jay C. Leff" (Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, October 15, 1959 - January 3, 1960), cat. no. 458; “Ancient Art of Latin America from the Collection of Jay C. Leff” (Brooklyn Museum, November 22, 1966 – March 5, 1967), cat. no. 453; and "Ancient Art of Middle America: Selections from the Jay C. Leff Collection" (Huntington Galleries, Huntington, WV, February 17 - June 9, 1974), cat. no. 139.

[2] The provenance information provided at the time the MFA acquired the censer stand was that Michael Haskell had purchased it in 1975 from Don Luis Percival, who in turn had acquired it decades earlier from Clay Lockett of Tucson, AZ. The censer stand was certainly sold from the Leff collection in 1975, but the buyer at that sale is not known.