10th-early 16th century AD. A stylised human skull carved from rock crystal. 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; Pohl, J. Aztec, Mixtec and Zapotec Armies, London, 1991; 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.55-60.920 grams, 12.5cm (5"). 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 scholarly note TL5347 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.10286-168434. In prehistoric ages, human skulls were represented in a variety of forms and media, intended as an allusion to the ancestors of the living. The practice survives in Mexico to this day.