Beneath the Surface: Life, Death and Gold in Ancient Panama

Beneath the Surface: Life, Death, and Gold in Ancient Panama, at the Penn Museum until November 1, 2015, explores the history of, archaeological evidence about, and new research perspectives on the Coclé people who lived from about 700 to 900 CE. Video footage from the original Sitio Conte excavation and more than 200 objects from the famous excavation provide an immersive experience in this installation. One massive burial, dubbed “Burial 11” by the excavators, yielded the most extraordinary materials from the excavation. Believed to be that of a paramount chief, it contained twenty-three individuals in three distinct layers, accompanied by a vast array of grave objects. A to-scale installation of the burial serves as the exhibition’s centerpiece and features many artifacts displayed in the actual positions in which they were found, as well as digital interactive stations that allow for further exploration.

View the exhibition's official website.

Pre-Columbian Art Sale at Gerhard Hirsch Nachfolger

German auctioneers Gerhard Hirsch Nachfolger will present a sale of ancient art and artifacts on September 21 in Munich. Alongside a range of ancient European sculpture and coins will be offered a selection of beautiful pre-Columbian works, primarily ceramics from West Mexico and South America.  

For more information, view the online catalogue.

Warrior figure  -  Colima, Mexico

Female figure -  Chupicuaro, Mexico

Painted vessel  -  Maya, Mexico

 Images courtesy of Gerhard Hirsch Nachfolger

Aztecs in Melbourne

Through August 10, visitors to the Melbourne Museum can discover the ingenious agricultural technology, bustling commercial empire and pantheon of deities of Mexico's ancient Aztec civilization. Aztecs explores accounts of war, the arrival of Spanish explorers in Aztec territory, the encounter between Cortés and Moctezuma, and both the truth and fiction of Aztec human sacrifice. The installation was developed by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in partnership with the National Council for Culture and the Arts - National Institute of Anthropology and History - Mexico, the Australian Museum, and Museum Victoria.

Visit the exhibition's official website.

Image courtesy of Museum Victoria

Pre-Columbian Art - Binoche et Giquello

Binoche et Giquello will present a sale of fine pre-Columbian antiquities in Paris on March 28. Over 150 lots will be put before the bidders, ranging from ancient Mexican masks to South American ceramics.  

View the online catalogue.

Standing figure  -  Olmec, Mexico  -  1150–550 BC

Phallic urn  -  Brazil  -  400–1400 AD

Funerary mask  -  Teotihuacan, Mexico  -  450–650 AD

Seated figure of Macuilxochitl  -  Mixtec, Mexico  -  1300–1521 AD

Figure  -  Aztec, Mexico  -  1400–1521 AD

Mask  -  Teotihuacan, Mexico  -  300 BC–200 AD

Images courtesy of Binoche et Giquello

Bird Mothers and Feathered Serpents

Currently showing at the Saumel P. Harn Museum of Art in Gainesville, Florida, Bird Mothers and Feathered Serpents focuses on mythological beings in art from Oceania and Ancient America using objects from the Harn Museum’s collection. Each object represents a fascinating character – a culture hero, a divinity, or a spirit being. Their attributes and deeds reflect human understanding of the cosmos and played a role in shaping social and cultural ideas for a particular group of people. Oceanic works are from Melanesia, including the Sepik River region, Papuan Gulf, New Britain and New Ireland of Papua New Guinea. Ancient American works are from Mesoamerica, Central America and the Andean region.

Visit the Harn Museum's website.

Seated figural urn  -  Zapotec, Mexico  -  Circa 300-500 AD

Information and image courtesy of the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art

Threads of Identity: Contemporary Maya Textiles

Maya peoples of Guatemala and southeastern Mexico are renowned for their time-honored tradition of magnificent attire. Today’s repertoire of Maya traditional clothing, called traje, developed primarily during the Colonial Period (1521-1821 C.E.) as a forced adoption of European dress. Today’s fashions, as adaptations of imposed, foreign modes to indigenous couture, are testimony to Maya perseverance in spite of hundreds of years of colonization, enslavement and genocide. [i]Threads of Identity: Contemporary Maya Textiles[/i], now on view at The Mint Museum, is dedicated to these historically rich and visually stunning garments. This exhibition features fashions of the Kaqchikel, Ixil, K’iche’, Mam, Tz’utujil, Chuj, Awakatek, Jakaltek and Poqomchi’ from Guatemala, and Tzotzil and Tzeltal from Chiapas, Mexico.

View the exhibition's official website.

Information and images courtesy of The Mint Museum

Native American and Pre-Columbian Art Auction

On March 25, auctioneers EVE will present two sales of ancient American art at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris. The first, smaller group of lots will highlight the Hopi art collection of Yves Berger, including a compelling range of katsina. The second sale will focus on sculptural and ceramic pre-Columbian art from Mexico to South America.

Visit the official EVE website.

Information and images courtesy of EVE

The Barbier-Mueller Collection at Sotheby's

On March 22 & 23, selections from the exquisite Barbier-Mueller Collection of Pre-Columbian Art will be offered at Sotheby's Paris. Formerly held by the Museu Barbier-Mueller d'Art Precolombí in Barcelona, these masterpieces of ancient American art will now find new homes at auction. Featuring over 300 lots, the sale will offer an astonishing array of works in stone, metal, and ceramic from traditional cultures stretching from Mexico to Peru. A few highlights from the sale can be found below. For complete information on this momentous auction, view the official online catalogue at the Sotheby's website.

Figure of Chalchiuhtlicue, Goddess of Water  -  Aztec, Mexico  -  1300–1521 AD

Female figure with stepped-cross motifs  -  Chupicuaro, Mexico  -  ca. 400 BC

Seated figure  -  Olmec, Mexico  -  900–600 BC

Information and images courtesy of Sotheby's

Dancing into Dreams: Maya Vases of the Ik’ Kingdom is now on view at the Princeton University Art Museum through February 17, 2013. Unlike some of the other broad installations of Maya art that are being staged this year, this exhibition focuses solely on the painted chocolate-drinking cups from one Maya site located in present-day Guatemala. Ik’ ceramics are characterized by their rich natural colors, veristic portraiture, skillful rendition of graceful movement, and elegantly fluid calligraphy. Dancing into Dreams uses this artistic microcosm to elucidate the courtly politics and dynastic history of the Ik’ Kingdom.              

View the exhibition's official website.

Information and images courtesy of the Princeton University Art Museum

Maya 2012 at the National Museum of Korea

Through October 28, the National Museum of Korea presents Maya 2012, a special showcase of art and artifacts illustrating the creative history of the Mayan civilization. Marking the fiftieth anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and both Mexico and Guatemala, the exhibition offers an opportunity to display about 200 pieces of Mayan art on loan from a variety of Mexican and Guatemalan institutions. 

Visit the exhibition's official website.

Figural ornament  -  Guatemala  -  7th–8th century

Figural pair depicting the goddess Ixchel  -  Mexico  -  7th–8th century

Information and images courtesy of the National Museum of Korea

For I am the Black Jaguar: Shamanic Visionary Experience in Ancient American Art

This month the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University in Atlanta will open “For I Am the Black Jaguar”: Shamanic Visionary Experience in Ancient American Art, an exhibition exploring the influence of shamanic traditions on the art of ancient Mesoamerican and Andean cultures. On view through January 5, 2013, the installation will highlight visionary art objects from Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru, and elsewhere, all of which predate the European invasions of the sixteenth century.

View the exhibition's official website.

 Information and images courtesy of the Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University

Maya: Secrets of Their Ancient World

Entering its final week at the Royal Ontario Museum is the major showcase Maya: Secrets of Their Ancient World. This groundbreaking exhibition features 250 artifacts that take visitors on a remarkable journey through the history, art, and puzzling collapse of the Maya civilization. A collaborative effort between the ROM, Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History and the Canadian Museum of Civilization, this exhibition explores the entire world of the Maya, from the rule of kings and queens to the lives of everyday people.

Visit the official website.

Incensario stand depicting the Jaguar God of the Underworld  -  Late Classic Period, 600–900 AD

Reclining figure gazing into a mirror  -  Late Classic Period, 600–900 AD

Jade mask  -  Late Classic Period, 600–900 AD

Incensario stand with the head of a noble  -  Classic Period, 250–900 AD

Vessel with iguana/jaguar/human hybrid  -  Classic Period, 250–900 AD

Information and images courtesy of the Royal Ontario Museum

Aztec to Zapotec: Pre-Columbian Art at the OMA

Currently on view at the Orlando Museum of Art, Aztec to Zapotec: Selections from the Ancient Americas Collection features more than 180 works made prior to the arrival of Christopher Columbus and the Europeans during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Representing a span of more than 3,000 years, the exhibition is drawn from the OMA’s comprehensive Art of the Ancient Americas Collection and gives a rare glimpse into the life and culture of numerous civilizations from the North, Central and South American regions. Significant ancient works of gold, silver, jade, ceramic, shell and wood are included from the cultures of the Aztec, Maya, Moche, Nasca, Inca and Zapotec.

View the official website.

Male effigy jar  -  Recuay, Peru  -  100–300 CE

Nose pendant  -  Yotoco (Calima), Colombia  -  1–800 CE

Figural urn  -  Zapotec, Mexico  -  300–600 CE

Information and images courtesy of the Orlando Museum of Art