A brazier to connect with the past

This beautiful clay sculpture comes from the ancient city of Mayapan in Yucatan, Mexico.

This type of sculpture have been found throughout the peninsula and are often associated with temples and the worship of ancestors. Usually, these sculptures are hollow on the inside and used as braziers to burn copal or other incense.

Imagine what solemn that it looked like in the past, shrouded in smoke and offerings.

Some chronic ancient mention that these braziers were in front of altars, and functioned as a focal point in ceremonies and commemorations. Maybe also served as a reminder of illustrious personages, or a representation of his memory.

The character has a high headdress with shapes that mimic feathers, and wooden objects. From his neck hangs a beautiful chest painted in red and blue, and in their ears porta two large ear-rings. In your hands there is an object with tapered thorns, that could be a representation of a small censer staff.

It has been proposed that the censer represents Itzamnaaj, a mythological being very important in the early years of the world. However, the figure share a few attributes with the being, and rather seems to be the image of a clerk or accountant in the time of antiquity.

Whatever the case, this incense burner is an excellent example of how beautiful they came to be the instrument of ceremonial in the past yucatec.
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Image taken from the library of the INAH. Luckily, the figure is on display in the National Museum of Anthropology of Mexico City.