Aztec
Tripod censer
Aztec, 1349-1520
Scroll
Aztec
Tripod censer
Aztec, 1349-1520
Physical Qualities
Earthenware, 4 1/2 × 4 15/16 × 10 1/4 in. (11.5 × 12.5 × 26 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of the Austen-Stokes Ancient Americas Foundation, Upper Nyack, New York
Object Number
2005.30
This small, spherical incense burner is painted red and black, colors favored by the Aztec. It has been lightly incised and polished to a brilliant patina. A lattice panel encompasses two-thirds of the bowl exterior. The bowl is supported by three hollow supports, two of which are 5 cm. each in length. The third support, 14 cm in length and painted with black and red bands, terminates in a rattlesnake head. This support would have been used as the handle. The asymmetrical length of the snakehead appendage creates a slight tilt when the bowl rests on a flat surface.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 2005; Austen-Stokes Ancient Americas Foundation; Purchased from Howard Rose Galleries, NY, November 2004 by the donor.
Pasztory, Esther
1983. Aztec Art. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York.
Solís, Felipe, ed.
2004. The Aztec Empire, Catalogue of the Exhibition. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York.
1983. Aztec Art. Harry N. Abrams, Inc., New York.
Solís, Felipe, ed.
2004. The Aztec Empire, Catalogue of the Exhibition. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York.
