Maya Eccentric Flint

Emile Deletaille, Brussels, acquired by July, 1970

Thence by descent

Brussels, Société Générale de Banque, Art de Mésoamérique - Meso-Amerikaanse kunst, November 17, 1976 - January 8, 1977

Brussels, Royal Museums of Art and History, Trésors du Nouveau Monde, September 15 - December 27, 1992

Société Générale de Banque, Art de Mésoamérique - Meso-Amerikaanse kunst, Brussels, 1976, fig. 190

Institute of Maya Studies, Miami Museum of Science, Newsletter, October 12, 1977, p. 3, illus.

Gerald Berjonneau, Emile Deletaille and Jean-Louis Sonnery, Rediscovered Masterpieces of Mesoamerica : Mexico - Guatemala - Honduras, Boulogne, 1985, pp. 256 - 257, fig. 411

Emile and Lin Deletaille, eds., Trésors du Nouveau Monde, Brussels, 1992, p. 228, fig. 183

The extraordinarily thin section and even fluting of this eccentric flint is a testament to the delicate pressure-flaking technique. The art of flint-knapping with an antler on brittle stone was an ancient skill. Eccentrics were made throughout the Maya region as ceremonial objects placed as offerings in dedicatory caches along with stingray spines and shell and jade objects. Chert was an important raw material for functional tools as well as precious ritual objects. The well-balanced symmetry of this lance-shape with serrated edges and tapering prongs evokes a highly stylized animal.

For examples of eccentrics in chert and obsidian, see Peter Schmidt, Mercedes de la Garza and Enrique Nalda, eds., Maya, New York, 1998, pp. 606 - 607.