Aztec Art I - Art and Sculpture

Volcanic obsidian glass was used to make jewelry, such as the small ear spools and spiral beads toward the center. These pieces come from Hidalgo, contemporary with the height of Aztec reign. The other pieces here include several other small jewelry objects. Obsidian can be hewn into one of the sharpest natural minerals.

Aztec Great Temple Museum

Felipe R. Solís Olguín has made the provocative argument that the Aztecs' monumental sculpture was used to reinforce some of the ideologies of the Empire. Certain stances, postures, and attributes in the human sculptures, for example, are exclusive to each gender. These sculptures could then idealize the Aztec male and female according to the state ideology. This standing elderly male sculpture has a smooth yet somewhat rigid expression.

National Museum of Anthropology and History

Originally immigrants from the northern wilderness, the Aztec ancestors were nomadic and mercenary tribes who aligned themselves with local states in order to sustain themselves. One of the greatest Aztec stories recalls that they never forgot their destiny, that their patron and War God Huitzilopochtli would guide them in the form of a blue hummingbird. He would take them to a prophesied island at the center of a great lake. There, a golden eagle would land upon a prickly-pear cactus (noch-) amidst (-titlan) many stones (te-), and that would mark where the Aztecs would settle. The Aztec tribe that witnessed this moment in 1325 then founded the capital of Mexico-Tenochtitlan and renamed themselves the Mexica.

National Museum of Anthropology and History

One of the world's finest known examples of obsidian carving. The bulge in the monkey's belly may suggest that she is pregnant. The rim is circumscribed by her slender tail, which she grabs with both hands. The figure has been ascribed to the Tetzcoco region east of the capital, but its exact provenience remains unknown.

National Museum of Anthropology and History

Botticelli rendered Venus as a young lady in a clam. This was the Mesoamerican Venus - replete with large fangs, plated eyes, sharp weapons and a skeletal body. The god was called Tlahuizcalpanteuctli, Lord of the House of Dawn. As morning star, the House of Dawn carried the heart of the Feathered Serpent. As evening star, it housed the heart of his distorted twin Xolotl.

National Museum of Anthropology and History

Stone sculpture of Xochipilli, the Flowery Prince, who was both a vegetation god and a god of youthful beauty. This sculpture is one of the most emotionally expressive carvings of an Aztec god. Various kinds of flower prints are carved over his skin, and many of them have in fact been identified as flowers of hallucinogenic plants. Xochipilli's image can thus integrate the colors of both the flowering plants and their visionary abilities.

National Museum of Anthropology and History

The Olmecs and Maya early stressed the jaguar as a lord of the night, the prowler and the guardian. The Aztecs built upon this idea when they assembled the Jaguar Warriors. The eagle was the greatest predator of the day. The jaguar was that of the night. This piece is a logical counterpart to the Mexica Aztecs' Eagle Bowl.

National Museum of Anthropology and History

This bowl is carved with images that point to its use as an offertory vessel for blood sacrifice. The interior depicts blood-stained bone awls, used for piercing the tongue, ears, or other organs. These awls are set into a zacatapayolli or bundle of thorny stems, an image commonly associated with bloodletting.

National Museum of Anthropology and History

Detail of a relief from the imposingly large Stone of Tizoc. The Stone is a short but wide cylinder, whose entire circumference is marked with reliefs of the war lord Tizoc in various wardrobes, and in each battle he stands on the left and holds his prisoner by the hair, each identified with a glyph of a different conquered region. Because of his impressive military career, he was elected by the Aztec noble council as emperor, but this would become one of the shortest reigns of any Aztec emperor, from 1481 to 1486. However, an inferior eye for military command was one of the main reasons Tizoc had such a weak office. Dissent in the administration led to the eventual assassination of this emperor, but the great Stone remains. The lid to this monument has spokes which represent the sun's rays, and the central hole is open as a receptacle. This structure could have therefore served as a temalacatl gladiatorial stone: the hole at center would have supported a small pole that fastened to a war prisoner's ankle as he fought in combat.

National Museum of Anthropology and History

The élite warrior of the night. This is not quite the counterpart to the nearly life-sized ceramic eagle warrior at the Great Temple. In fact, it is not much less than two feet tall and made from a single piece of stone. The image has shown some wear around the face, but the jaguar-shaped helmet is still visible.

National Museum of Anthropology and History

While not as grand as the standing eagle warrior figures from the Great Temple, this ceramic urn is richly painted and embellished. The face is skeletal, but it still carries jewelry like the nose piece and the small, hand-shaped earring pendants. This piece was crafted in the beginning of the sixteenth century.

National Museum of Anthropology and History