Sabina Nayberg, Los Angeles, acquired by her family in the 1960🤪s

American෴ Private Collection, acquired from the above

Sotheby's, New York, May 11, 2012, lot 41, con😼signed by the abov🌜e

Private Coll𒊎ection, acquired at the above auction

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.