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Museum Collections - Mesoamerica - Teotihuacan - Artifact #1

Butterfly God incense burner - Teotihuacan

WHO: Teotihuacan culture

WHERE: Northeastern Valley of Mexico

WHEN: Classic Period, A.D. 450- 650

WHAT: This incense burner depicts the 'Butterfly God'. It was used in ceremonial settings, and its condition suggests that its final use was as a burial accompaniment. Censers with similar forms to this one have been found in Esquintla, Guatemala, suggesting that this piece, or objects like it, may have been traded to peoples in that part of Mesoamerica.
Height: 48.9cm

HOW: Brown earthenware. The base is unslipped, and the polychrome lid has remnant red and yellow slip on many small moulded platelets.

MUSEUM: Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art. G83.1.19

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