Rare Maya Figure of a Captive, Jaina Late Classic, ca. A.D. 550-950

the elite captive suspended from the pierced skin of his back, his short cape and loincloth remaining but his ear ornaments replaced with long paper and feather elements, the short coiffure with central plait, his moustached face with brave and resolute expression.

Andre Emmerich Inc., acquired in 1973
New York private collector, acquired from the above in 1980
Sotheby's, New York, May 13, 2011, lot 136, consigned by the above

Princeton, Jaina Figurines, A Study of Maya Iconography, The Art Museum, Princeton University, May 3-June 29, 1975

Mary Ellen Miller, Jaina Figurines, A Study of Maya Iconography, Princeton University Art Museum, 1975, Fig. 19, pg. 50, illus.

Ritual and actual warfare between competing Maya polities was an important means of establishing alliances and shifting power bases. The explicit display of high-ranking captives was a significant element of the outcome, and was important enough to memorialize in the figurine tradition as shown in this unusual example.
See Miller and Martin (2004:pl. 97) for a Jaina captive with such ear ornaments, also ibid. (pls. 98 and 100) for stone monuments of a captive.