Maya Calendar : The Maya Calendar depicted here was called “the Haab”, the Maya solar calendar of 365 days. It was divided into 18 months of 20 days each with a period of 5 days left over at the end of the year. This short 5 day month is called Uayeb, “the resting or sleep of the year”. The Maya also used another calendar of 260 days called the sacred round or Tzolkin composed of 13 months of 20 days. A cycle of 52 solar years, called the calendar round was also used. The calendar round of 52 years included both the Haab and Tzolkin calendars intermeshing with each other. Any specific day in the 260 day calendar had a unique corresponding position in the 360 day calendar but that corresponding position would not repeat itself again for 52 solar years. This calendar sculpture shows the Maya God of Time at the center, supporting the burden of time on his back. He is surrounded by the hieroglyphs of the 19 months.

LOT 426 : 10.5"H

Mask of Death & Rebirth :

LOT 422 : 5.5"H x 7.5"W

Aztec Solar Calendar - Antrop Museum, Mexico City, 1500AD : The Aztec calendar set out the mathematical formulas according to which the whole universe was organized which governed the actions of men and Gods alike. The calendar is actually two: the Xiupohualli or the count of the days and the Tonalpohualli or the count of destiny. The calendar had to be consulted through the priests before engaging in any activity whether it was farming, warfare, religion or commerce. In addition to the count of the days, it also has astronomical data like the phases of the moon and Venus, and the years of Mercury and Mars. The calendar also mentions the four eras of humanity know as ‘suns’ before our own: all ended in cataclysm. The sun that is now ours, the fifth one, Nahui Ollin (“four earthquake”) is supposed to end by cataclysmic earthquakes. The Aztecs attributed the invention of the calendar to the God Quetzalcoatl. The calendar weighs 25 tons and has a diameter of eleven feet.

LOT 740 : 10"H Wall Hanging

Feathered Serpent Head of Quetzalcoaltl - Pyramid of Quetzalcoaltl, Teotihuacan, Mexico. 300 A.D. : One of the great Gods of Ancient Mesoamerica, Quetzalcoatl is a synthesis of serpent and bird. The name means “quetzal serpent”. The quetzal was a sacred bird of very beautiful feathers which were used in elite and ritual costumes. Quetzalcoatl, the patron of rulership, had several incarnations, the most important were as a creator god, as Ehecatl, the God of Wind; as the Morning Star; and asTopiltzin, a semi-human ruler, unique among the Gods. The priestly Quetzalcoatl was often contrasted to his dark shamanic brother Tezcatlipoca, the God of war, and their relation veer between enmity and alliance. According to Aztec and Maya creation accounts, after the great floods ended the era of the Fourth Sun, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca raised the heavens and create the Earth. Since no people inhabitated the earth, Quetzalcoatl descended to the underworld to retrieve the remains of the people destroyed by the flood. Their bones were ground like corn into a fine meal and upon it the gods let their blood, thus creating the flesh of the present race and the era of the Fifth Sun.

LOT 427 : 7"H x 7"W x 6"D, Wall Hanging

Aztec Solar Calendar - Antropological Museum, Mexico City. 1500 A.D : The Aztec calendar set out the mathematical formulas according to which the whole universe was organized and which governed the actions of men and Gods alike. The calendar is actually two: the Xiupohualli or the count of the days and the Tonalpohualli or the count of destiny. The calendar had to be consulted through the priests before engaging in any activity whether it was farming, warfare, religion or commerce. In addition to the count of the days, it also has astronomical data like the phases of the moon and Venus and the years of Mercury and Mars. The calendar also mentions the four eras of humanity known as ‘suns’ before our own: all ended in cataclysm. The sun that is now ours, the fifth one, Nahui Ollin (“four earthquake”) is supposed to end by cataclysmic earthquakes. The Aztecs attributed the invention of the calendar to the God Quetzalcoatl. The calandar weighs 25 tons and has a diameter of eleven feet.

LOT 418 : 17" H, Wall Hanging

Aztec Double-Headed Serpent - British Museum, London. 15th century : Splendid relic of the Aztecs, who rose from squalid origins to power and riches in just 200 years, this double-headed rattlesnake serpent was used as a ceremonial chest ornament that may have been worn by a priest. It is incrusted with scales of turquoise, a stone the Aztecs imported from the outposts of their empire to adorn some of their most beautiful possessions. This piece is the work of a Mixtec jeweller, and dates from the 15th century. Mixtec craftsmanship was highly prized; an entire enclave of artisans from this culture lived in the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. In mesoamerican culture, serpents were very important religious symbols, the shedding of their skin made them a symbol of rebirth and renewal. One of the main mesoamerican deities, Quetzalcoatl, was represented as a feathered serpent.

LOT 419 : 11"H x 19"W

Lid of the Sarcophagus of Palenque - Temple of Inscriptions, Palenque, 692AD : In the city of Palenque, in a temple on top of a pyramid, the archaeologist Albert Lluillier found in 1952 the access to a funerary crypt that houses the sarcophagus of the King Pacal Votan the Great (615-683AD), The Soviet scientist Alexander Kazantev came out with the theory that the relief on the lid of the sarcophagus represents an astronaut and his spaceship but according to the Mayan legend, the symbols of the lid shows King Pacal falling into the jaws of the Earth monster each night to rise again with the power of the sun each morning. Its teeth are enlarged to demonstrate its encompassing power. At the top is the mythological “Moun” bird. The pillar-like construction above Pacal’s head is the tree of life. The lid is twelve feet long.

LOT 738 : 14.5"H Wall Hanging

Maya Vision Serpent - Yaxchilan, Mexico. 755 A.D. : The maya vision serpent symbolizes the passage of ancestral spirits and the gods of Xibalba (the maya underworld) into our world. In states of ecstasy and usually following penis or tongue bloodletting, particularly as graphically depicted at Yaxchilan, maya mobility invoke the vision serpent. During special ceremonies, bloody papers were burnt in a sacred bowl and from it, this great undulating serpent rises and from its mouth emerges an ancestor or, occasionally, a deity. The serpent itself then, is probably what one sees in the clouds of smoke rising from the burning sacrifice, and cloud symbols may flank the vision serpent’s body. The vision serpent can be the vehicle by which ancestors or deities make themselves manifest to humanity. This sculpture depicts a version with a single head and personified blood scrolls attached to its tail.

LOT 425 : 8"H

Maya Tablet of the Sun - Temple of the Sun, Palenque, Mexico. 692 A.D : The original of this tablet is located at the Temple of the Sun, one of the three temples in Palenque known as the Group of the Cross, built by king Chan-Bahlum to commemorate and celebrate his accession rites to the throne after the death of his father, king Pacal. The tablet shows king Pacal on the left side, dressed in burial apparel and holding a full-bodied eccentric flint and a shield made of a flayed human face, a symbol of war. Pacal still holds the insignia of royal power; the passing of authority will occur at the end of ten days of accession rites. Chan-Bahlum is shown on the other side holding an offering manequin of maya god “K”. At the center of the tablet, we see a Sun Jaguar shield and crossed spears supported aloft by an underworld throne with bleeding jaguar heads emerging from one axis, and bleeding snakes from the other, representing decapitation sacrifice. The throne rests on the shoulders of god “L” and another aged god from the Underworld. Both are bent over like captives, in representation of the defeat of the Lords of Death at the beginning of time by the Hero Twins who became the source of life through magical rebirth after becoming captive sacrificial victims.

LOT 421 : 16"H x 20.5"W

Olmec Colossal Head - La Venta, Mexico. 1000B.C. : Few of the world’s art treasures conceal more mysteries than the stone sculptures of the Olmecs, the Gulf Coast people who created Mesoamerica’s first civilization more than 3000 years ago. The objects range from exquisite miniatures fashioned from jade and serpentine to colossal stone heads. One feature that distinguishes them from the art of later peoples is their stark realism, many of the sculptures are fashioned in the round, portraying the human figure in squat but accurate detail. Almost two meters high and weighing over 15 tons, this monumental head is one of four found at La Venta, near the Gulf Coast. Scholars speculate that they may have portrayed rulers of the city. The Olmecs wrought these colossal heads from huge boulders of basalt from the Tuxtla mountains, 100 km away and they must have floated them on balsa rafts along the slow-moving rivers of the Gulf Coast. At La Venta, the four colossal heads were set as if to guard the ceremonial core of the site, three to the south and one to the north, all with their backs to the architecture

LOT 424 : 8.25"H

Head of Maya King Pacal - Palenque, Mexico. 692 A.D. :

LOT 428 : 8"H

Toltec Atlantean Warrior - Tula, Mexico. 900 A.D :

LOT 423 : 14.5"H

Aztec Moon Goddess Coyolxauhqui - Temple Mayor Museum, Mexico City, 1400AD : This sculpture, 10 feet in diameter, is one of the most impressive and important examples of Aztec art. Her name is Coyolxauhqui, which means “She of the Rattles on her Cheeks”. She was also called one who “spoke to all the centipedes and spiders and transformed herself into a sorceress” or a “very evil woman”. She was one of the major goddesses in Aztec mythology. In a mythical representation of the triumph of the sun over the powers of night personified by Coyolxauhqui as a lunar goddess, she is shown decapitated and dismembered after she was slain by her brother, the Sun God Huitzilopochtli. Here, bells decorate her cheek, and in accordance with her ferocious image, she wears a skull on her belt and serpent armbands with claws attached.

LOT 779 : 11"H Wall Hanging

Chac-Mool :

LOT 977 : 12"L x 8"H x 5"D

Tablet of the Foliated Tree of Life - Temple of the Foliated Cross, Palenque, Mexico. 698 A.D. : The original of this tablet is located in the temple of the foliated cross, one of the three temples in Palenque, known as the Group of the Cross, built by King Chan-Bahlum to commemorate and celebrate his accession rites to the throne after the death of his father, king Pacal. The tablet shows Chan Bahlum on the left side, dressed simply with a loin cloth and his long hair wrapped in readiness to don the heavy headdress of kingship. His father Pacal stands on the other side, dressed in burial apparel. Pacal holds the insignia of royal power, the passing of authority will occur at the end of ten days of accession rites. In the center we see a variant of the tree of life formed by a maize plant rising from a band of water and the Kan-cross Waterlily Monster, which symbolizes the waters of the earth as the source of life. In the crown of the tree sits a huge water bird wearing the mask of the Celestial Bird. The branches of the tree are ears of maize manifested as human heads since in Maya tradition, human flesh was made from maize dough. Pacal is shown giving to his son a personified bloodletter, an instrument for bloodletting rituals and vision quests. It drew the blood of the King and brought on the trance that opened the portal to Shivalva (the Maya underworld) and brought forth the Gods.

LOT 420 : 13"h x 19"W

King Chan-Bahlun (Bird-Jaguar) - Temple of the Foliated Cross, Palenque, 692AD : This sculpture is a fragment of a larger scene that shows one of the ascension rituals of Chan-Bahlum to the throne of the city of Palenque. Chan-Bahlum is shown presenting the “Tialoc” , a symbol of ritual bloodletting to the foliated tree of life. On the other side of the tree is the deceased King Pacal, father of Chan-Bahlum transferring the powers of kingship to his son. This scene occurs in Xibalba, the Maya underworld. Chan-Bahlum and his father Pacal, were the most important kings of Palenque and their reign can be considered the golden period of Palenque during which the city became the most important religious and political center in the Yucatan. Pacal and Chan-Bahlum built all the important temples and buildings of the city. Chan-Bahlum was responsible for building the three temples of the Group of the Cross from which this religious relief originates. During their reign, art reached new realms of technical sophistication. The name Chan-Bahlum means “Snake-Jaguar”. He was born in 635AD., ascended to the throne on 684AD, at the age of 48 and died in 702AD.

LOT 739 : 14"H Wall Hanging

Maya Vison Serpent - Hand Painted - Yaxchilan, Mexico, 755AD :

LOT 778 : 14"H Wall Hanging

Mexican Cross - 17th Century : Reproduced from a vth century crucifix from Mexico, this cross includes the conventional symbols of the Passion-nails, crown of thorns, pillar and scourge, ladder and lance, the cockerel that crowed three times.

LOT 550 : 7 x 9x1.25"