MAYA STONE EFFIGY HACHA LATE CLASSIC, CIRCA AD 550 - 950

The pelican is elegantly depicted by the sweeping lines of the curving neck and long, slightly open beak, the gullet expanded as if filled with a recent catch. Pelicans are well represented in Maya art, admired for their dramatic high-speed dives when hunting. They deftly navigate the realms of sky and water, giving them enhanced status in mythological spheres. For a highly similar hacha of a pelican, see Sotheby's, New York, May 7, 2016, lot 113. Also see Finamore and Houston, Fiery Pool: The Maya and the Mythic Sea, Salem, 2010, p. 96.