3rd-9th century AD. A jade statue of a male leader seated cross-legged, wearing an elaborate ceremonial headdress, stylised beak, feathers and band decorated with engraving on the back; the top of the forehead framed by the hair, rendered in incision, longer at the temples; the eyes oval, the nose broad, the mouth with thick lips, large disc-shaped earrings in the lobes; naked torso and loincloth decorated with incisions, the bent right arm holding a jaguar head with its jaws wide open, the left arm is placed close to the body and the hand resting on the knee. See Instituto Geologico de M?xico, Catalogo Geográfico de las especies minerales de M?xico, Boletin 41, M?xico, 1923; Mirambell, L.E., Tecnicas Lapidarias Prehispanica, M?xico, 1968; Ward, F., Jade Gem, EUA, 1996; Ridinger, M.L., ‘El Jade’ in Arqueologia Mexicana vol. V, No 27 Septiembre-Octubre, pp. 52-59, M?xico, 1997; Mirambell, L.E., Materiales Arqueologicos y material prima’, in Serie Arqueologia INAH, M?xico, 2005; Langenscheidt, A., ‘Los Abrasivos en Mesoam?rica’, Arqueologia Mexicana vol. XIV, No 80 Julio-Agosto, M?xico, 2006, pp.55-60.4.1 kg, 27.5cm (10 3/4"). Property of an Italian collector living in Torino; part of her family's collection since 1965; by descent from her grandmother in 1993; accompanied by a copy of the Italian export permit and a signed academic report by Emilio J. Bejarano Erosa (Director of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Mexico, 1968-1982); also accompanied by a scholarly note TL5343 by Dr Ronald Bonewitz; this lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate number no.10276-168423. The figure represented here in jade is that of a male individual in the military hierarchy. Representations of individuals wearing animal headdresses refer to the military orders that existed in Meso-America before the Spanish conquest. The object is a product of the warlike period of Mayan civilization during which warfare was a way of life, social affirmation and survival.