with the report of what they had seen._
After what has been related was done, they took leave of the
captain, and entered their canoes, and commenced to go toward the
land, paddling with great speed, and saying to one another, “There
are valiant men; let us exert ourselves to paddle before anything
happens.” They arrived very quickly at the town of Xicalanco, and
there they ate and rested a little, and then they got into their
canoes again, and paddling with great speed they arrived at the town
called Tecpantlayacac, and from there began to journey by land,
running with great speed, and they reached the town called Cuetlaxtla:
there they ate and rested a little, and those of the town begged them
that they should rest at least a day, but they responded that they
could not, because they had to go with great speed to make known to
Montezuma what they had seen, very new things, and never before seen
nor heard of, of which no one else could speak about: and so traveling
with great speed by night and day, they arrived in Mexico by night.”
In the accounts of the vast treasure secured by Cortés from Montezuma
before his untimely death, there is to be found no specific mention
or description of objects decorated with stone mosaic. Much of the
treasure secured in the final sack of Tenochtitlan (Mexico) was lost.
The “empire” of the Aztecs was completely subjugated in 1521. From
that time, and up to 1525, Cortés sent to Europe at various intervals
great quantities of loot, gathered as tribute from the stores of the
Indians, accompanied with inventories, a number of which have been
published. From these inventories we select the following items which
clearly relate to stone mosaic objects.
_Report of the Feather-work and Jewels sent to Spain to be distributed
to the following Churches and Monasteries and Special Persons._
[Without date.]
For the Lord Bishop of Burgos
Item: something like a staff (crosier) of stone mosaic-work of many
colors, for him (the Bishop).
_Copy of the Register of the Gold, Jewels, and other Things which
are to go to Spain in the Ship Santa María de la Rábida, its Master
(being) Juan Baptista. (The year 1522.)_
This report contains a register of much treasure sent in one of the
several ships which left Mexico in June, 1522, in charge of the
treasurer Julian Alderete, and Alonso Dávila and Antonio de Quiñones,
proctors. The register contains statements of the monetary value of
certain treasure registered by various persons, among whom we find one
Juan de Rivera, who carried treasure for himself, Cortés, and other
persons named in the inventory; but none of the articles is described.
In the margin of the report are notes stating that a considerable
portion remained in the Azores. In another inventory, from which we
shall quote later, are descriptions of certain pieces, jewels, and
feather-work that remained in the Azores in charge of the above-named
proctors. According to Peter Martyr the greater part of this treasure
was destined for the King of Spain, but it never reached him, for the
vessel, which with the others had put into the Azores to escape French
pirates, was captured later by these corsairs and the rich spoils of
the Aztecs went to augment the treasure of Francis I.
The ship _Santa María de la Rábida_ seems to have arrived in Sevilla
in November, 1522, and Peter Martyr saw the treasure that it brought
and interviewed Juan de Rivera at length concerning the people and
country of New Spain. The account which he wrote, based on a view of
the wonderful objects and what Rivera had told him, comprises an entire
book in the Fifth Decade of his _De Orbe Novo_, first printed in 1530.
It contains a mass of valuable and generally trustworthy information,
gleaned not only at first hand from Rivera, but also from a young
native Mexican whom Rivera had brought to Spain as a slave and servant.
This account supplies certain information describing the treasure,
which is missing in the inventory. The report is so interesting that
we quote what Peter Martyr writes about some of the objects of stone
mosaic-work which Rivera displayed.[21]
We have been particularly delighted with two mirrors of exceptional
beauty: the first was bordered with a circle of gold, one palm in
circumference, and set in green wood; the other was similar. Ribera
states that there is stone found in these countries, which makes
excellent mirrors when polished; and we admit that none of our mirrors
more faithfully reflect the human face.
We also admire the artistically made masks. The _superstructure_ is of
wood, covered over with stones, so artistically and perfectly joined
together that it is impossible to detect their lines of junction, with
the fingernail. They seem to the naked eye to be one single stone,
of the kind used in making their mirrors. The ears of the mask are
of gold, and from one temple to another extend two green lines of
emeralds; two other saffron colored lines start from the half-opened
mouth, in which bone teeth are visible; in each jaw two natural teeth
protrude between the lips. These masks are placed upon the faces of
the gods, whenever the sovereign is ill, not to be removed until he
either recovers or dies.
Peter Martyr gives us details regarding the King’s share of the loot
brought by the _Santa María de la Rábida_, writing as follows:
Without mentioning the royal fifth, that ship brings the treasure
which is composed of a part of what Cortés amassed, at the cost
of risks and dangers, and the share belonging to his principal
lieutenant: they offer it all in homage to their King. Ribera has been
instructed to present to the Emperor in his master’s [Cortés’] name
the gifts he sends, while the others will be presented in the name of
their colleagues by the officers who, as I have said, remained behind
at the Azores.... The treasure destined for the Emperor is on board
the vessel which has not yet arrived: but it is said that it amounts
to 32,000 ducats of smelted gold in the form of bars. Were all the
rings, jewels, shields, helmets, and other ornaments now smelted, the
total would amount to 150,000 ducats. The report has spread, I know
not how, that French pirates are on the watch for these ships: may
they come safely in.
As we have stated, the ships were captured and the treasure was
irretrievably lost to the Spaniards. An inventory of the treasure,
preserved in Spain, reads:
_Statement of Pieces, Jewels, and Feather-work sent from New Spain for
His Majesty, and that Remained in the Azores in the Charge of Alonso
Dávila and Antonio Quiñones._ [Without date.]
Statement of the pieces, jewels, and feather-work that are sent to
Their Majesties in the following boxes:
A shield with blue stone mosaic-work with its rim of gold.
A shield of stone mosaic-work, with a rim of blue and red feathers.
A shield of stone mosaic-work, the casco (crown) of feathers and the
clasps of gold, and on the rim some long green feathers.
A shield of stone mosaic-work and confas (shells) with some pendants
on the rim, of large and small gold bells.
_Report of the Objects of Gold that are Packed in a Box for His
Majesty which are Sent in Care of Diego de Soto._ [Without date.]
A face of gold with the features of stone mosaic-work.
A face of tiger-skin [_sic_] with two ear-ornaments of gold and stone
mosaic-work.
_Report of the Things Carried by Diego de Soto from the Governor in
Addition to what he Carries Listed in a Notebook of Certain Sheets of
Paper for His Majesty_. [Without date.]
A large shield with some moons of stone mosaic-work and with much gold.
Two stone mosaic-work shields.
The final inventory from which we extract items relating to stone
mosaic-work objects is dated 1525. It is:
_Report of the Gold, Silver, Jewels, and Other Things that the
Proctors of New Spain Carry to His Majesty._ (_Year of 1525_.)
A large head of a duck of blue stone mosaic-work.
Two pieces of gold, such as the natives of these parts wear in their
ears with some red and blue stones, weighing altogether ten pesos.
A bracelet with four greenstones set in gold like the hoof of a stag.
Not weighed.
Another bracelet of gold with ten pieces like azicates, and two claws
of greenstone set in gold.
An armlet of tiger-skin with four greenstones and four small bars of
gold of little weight.
A shell like a venerica set in gold with a greenstone in the center.
A large shell set in gold with a face of greenstone, with some blue
and yellow little stones around the neck.
A butterfly of gold with the wings of venera, and the body and head of
greenstone.
Two veneras, one purple and the other yellow, each one respectively
with greenstones in the center and other blue ones around it, set in
gold.
Another white venera, set in gold, having some blue and red eyes, the
one inserted in the other.
A monster of gold with some greenstone mosaic-work in the belly,
weighing altogether eleven pesos.
A poniard (or jewel broncha) of white shell set in gold, weighing
altogether thirty-seven pesos, five tomins.
A butterfly of shell, of fancy work, set in gold, weighing altogether
eleven pesos, six tomins.[22]
TRIBUTE OF MOSAIC PAID TO THE AZTEC RULERS
Mosaic objects, and especially the raw material for their manufacture,
formed a part of the annual tribute paid by some of the coast provinces
of ancient Mexico to the Aztec kings of Tenochtitlan. We have the
pictorial representation of some of the objects of such tribute in
an important native book or codex, painted in colors on maguey fiber
paper, known as the Tribute Roll of Montezuma. This original codex was
at one time in the famous Boturini collection, and is now one of the
treasured possessions of the Museo Nacional in the City of Mexico. It
lacks, however, several leaves which were abstracted about a century
ago, and which came into possession of Joel R. Poinsett, who had been
American Minister to Mexico, and who presented them to the American
Philosophical Society of Philadelphia in 1830, where they now are. On
the pages have been written explanations of the pictures and figures
in both Nahuatl and Spanish. “The Nahuatl words look as if made by
a pencil, style, or short brush similar to that used in delineating
the figures, and with a sepia-like preparation; while the Spanish
ones have evidently been made with an ink containing iron, and an
instrument which disturbed the gloss of the paper, as is shown by its
penetration to fibres adjacent, giving the lines a sort of hazy margin
occasionally.”[23]
Some time between the years 1534 and 1550, Don Antonio de Mendoza, the
first Viceroy of Mexico, during this period, had the Indians prepare
for the Emperor Charles V, a book on European paper, containing a
pictorial account, in colors, of some things relating to the history
and life of the natives of the Mexican plateau. It was painted in three
sections, the first being a chronological record of the Aztec kings and
their conquests, the third relating to the habits and customs of the
natives and especially of the education of Mexican youth.
[Illustration: PL. II
STONE IDOL: THE GODDESS COATLICUE, WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
NATIONAL MUSEUM, MEXICO]
[Illustration: PL. III
STAFF AND RATTLE OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
PEABODY MUSEUM, CAMBRIDGE]
The _second_ part was a copy of the Tribute Roll above referred to.
These pictures were given to other Indians for the interpretation of
their import, which was written down in the Nahuatl language, and
another person, well versed in both the Indian and Spanish languages,
made a translation into Spanish, which was incorporated in the book.
It was then despatched to Spain, probably about the year 1549, but the
vessel was captured by French pirates, and the book came into the hands
of the French geographer, André Thevet, in 1553. After Thevet’s death
it was purchased, about the year 1584, by Richard Hakluyt, at that time
chaplain to the English Ambassador to France. Hakluyt bequeathed the
volume to Samuel Purchas, who published it, without colors, with an
English translation of the text, in _Purchas His Pilgrimes_, London,
1625. The English text was translated into French and accompanied with
the plates was published by Melchisedec Thevenot in his _Relations des
Divers Voyages_, in 1663. The codex ultimately became the property
of Selden, and with some other original Mexican codices later became
a part of the Bodleian Library at Oxford, where it is now preserved.
In 1831, Lord Kingsborough issued it for the first time in colors,
together with a new and more accurate English rendering of the Spanish
text, in his monumental work on the _Antiquities of Mexico_.
The Tribute Roll was published by Archbishop Lorenzana in Mexico in
1770, in his edition of the _Cartas de Cortés_, the drawing, uncolored,
being traced in a very inferior manner from the original in Mexico.
Finally, Dr. Antonio Peñafiel included a beautiful colored facsimile of
the Tribute Roll in his work, _Monumentos del Arte Mexicano Antiguo_,
published in Berlin in 1890, the missing leaves, in Philadelphia,
being reproduced from a very poor drawing of the codex on European
paper, probably executed for Boturini. These leaves were published in
exact facsimile in 1892, with an article entitled, The Tribute Roll of
Montezuma, edited by Dr. D. G. Brinton and Henry Phillips, in vol. XVII
of the _Transactions of the American Philosophical Society_.
[Illustration: FIG. 1]
On plate XVIII (we refer to the Peñafiel edition), in the second
section of the plate, among other objects of tribute is a small bowl
containing pieces of cut turquois (see fig. 1). In the explanation
given by Purchas, this item is described as “a little panne full of
Turkes stones,” and in the Kingsborough text it has been translated
“a little vessel of small turquois stones.” On the plate published
by Lorenzana is the caption, “Matlauac Rosilla con q. se tiñe
azul.” The word _matlauac_ is probably a corruption of the Nahuatl
word _matlaltic_, meaning ‘blue,’ but the rest of the sentence in
Spanish is confused, for _rosilla_ means ‘reddish,’ and _con q. se
tiñe azul_, ‘with which they dyed blue,’ seems to indicate that the
phrase is incomplete. Accompanying the objects depicted as tributes
are the hieroglyphs of the towns which paid them. These glyphs have
been interpreted in the same manner in all of the reproductions
of the codex, but we use the spelling adopted by Peñafiel, in
preference to that given by Purchas or by Kingsborough. They are:
(1) _Quiyauhtecpan_, “temple of rain or of its deities” _Tlaloc_
or _Chalchiuhtlicue_; (2) _Olinalan_, “place of earthquakes;” (3)
_Cuauhtecomatlan_, “place of tecomates;” (4) _Cualac_, “place of good
drinkable water;” (5) _Ichcatlan_, “cotton-plantation;” (6) _Xala_,
“sandy ground.” These places are given in the explanation as being
“cities of warm provinces.”
In the third section of the same plate (XVIII) are the objects shown in
figs. 2 and 3. Peñafiel writes of fig. 2 as “ten little figures worked
in turquois.” Only one object painted blue is depicted, the number
ten being indicated by the ten dots. That masks form this tribute is
clearly evident; in Purchas the description is “tenne halfe faces of
rich blew Turkey stones,” and in Kingsborough, “likewise 10 middling
sized masks of rich blue stones like turquois.”
[Illustration: FIG. 2]
[Illustration: PL. IV
HELMET OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON]
[Illustration: FIG. 3]
The second item in this section (fig. 3) is described by Peñafiel as “a
small bag of the same stones.” Kingsborough’s statement is, “a large
bag of the said blue stones,” while in Purchas the translation reads,
“a great trusse full of the said Turkey stones.” On the bag which is
painted blue, with two red vertical bands, is the Aztecan hieroglyph
for stone, _tetl_. The towns whence this tribute was exacted are:
(1) _Yoaltepec_, “place consecrated to the deity of the night;” (2)
_Ehaucalco_, “in the place of tanning;” (3) _Tzilacapan_, “river of
chilacayotes;” (4) _Patlanalan_, “place where parrots abound;” (5)
_Ixicayan_, “where the water comes down;” (6) _Ichcaatoyac_, “river of
cotton.” These cities are of the warm provinces.
[Illustration: FIG. 4]
The only finished objects of mosaic-work in the Tribute Roll are
on plate XXXII. This is one of the leaves of the original codex in
Philadelphia, and we have traced fig. 4 from this original. They are
described by Purchas as “two pieces like platters decked or garnished
with rich Turkey stones.” Kingsborough mentions them as “two pieces
like salvers ornamented or set with rich turquoise stones.” Lorenzana
has correctly printed the legend which we find reproduced in the
Philadelphia publication of this leaf; it is “_Ontetl xiuhtetl_,”
followed by the Spanish, “turquesas o piedras finas.” _Ontetl_ is
Nahuatl for “two,” and _xiuhtetl_, or _xiuitl tetl_, “turquois stone.”
The mosaic character of these two pieces is graphically represented by
the ancient artist. The towns paying the tribute illustrated on this
sheet are as follows: (1) _Tochpan_, or _Tuchpan_, “over the rabbit;”
(2) _Tlaltizapan_, “place situated over chalk;” (3) _Cihuateopan_, “in
the temple of Cihuacoatl;” (4) _Papantla_, “place of the priests;” (5)
_Ocelotepec_, “place of the ocelot;” (6) _Mihuapan_, “river of the ears
of corn;” (7) _Mictlan_, “place of rest.”
In the _Crónica_ of Tezozomoc is an account of the campaign of the
Aztecan king Ahuitzotl into southern Mexico in 1497. The towns of
Xuchtlan, Amaxtlan, Izhuatlan, Miahuatla, Tecuantepec, and Xolotlan,
in the region of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, had revolted against him.
After the complete rout of the rebellious Indians, it was related
by Tezozomoc that “the kind of arms carried by the coast people
was very rich, so much so that the undisciplined soldiers began to
strip the bodies of the dead of the very rich feather-work pieces
called _quetzalmanalli_, and from their military ornaments remove a
round emerald like a mirror which sparkled in its perfection, called
_xiuhtezcatl_. Others of the dead carried on the back of their arms
that which was called _yacazcuil_, outside of fine gold, and in the
nose they wore stones; others (wore) gold, and the shield which they
carried had a very rich greenstone in the center, and around it a
decoration of very fine stones set in (mosaic-work), said shield being
called _xiuhchimal_.” Those who remained after the slaughter came to
Ahuitzotl, saying: “Our Lords, let us speak. We will give our tribute
of all that is produced and yielded on these coasts, which will be
chalchihuitl of all kinds and colors, and other small stones called
_teoxihuitl_ (turquois) for setting in very rich objects [mosaic],
and feathers of the richest sort brought forth in the whole world,
very handsome birds, the feathers of which are called _xiuhtototl_,
_tlaquechol_, _tzinitzcan_, and _zacuan_; tanned skins of the tiger
(ocelot), lions (puma), and great wolves, and other stones veined with
many divers colors.”[24]
In the same _Crónica_ we read that Montezuma, who succeeded Ahuitzotl
after his death in 1502, received a royal tribute from his vassals in
Xaltepec, a coast town of Tehuantepec, among which were “broad collars
[_sic_] for the ankles, strewn with gold grains and very rich stone
mosaic-work.”[25]
[Illustration: PL. V
MASK OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON]
SOURCE OF TURQUOIS
The source of the considerable quantity of turquois used in Mexico
in pre-Spanish times for personal ornaments and mosaic incrustation
is still an unsolved problem. Thus far no prehistoric workings have
been found in Mexico. Only recently turquois has been discovered at
the silver mines at Bonanza, Zacatecas, but Dr. Kunz, who has called
our attention to this, writes that he has no information regarding
prehistoric workings there.[26] In the extensive bibliography on the
geology of Mexico by Aguilar y Santillan[27] we find only a single
entry for turquois, that being the study of Mexican mosaics in Rome by
Pigorini.[28] Pogue[29] writes that there are no important turquois
deposits that do not show signs of prehistoric exploitation, and he
is also of the opinion that it is very difficult to trace the source
of the turquois used by the Indians of ancient Mexico and Central
America. Pogue’s conclusion is that “as no occurrence at all adequate
as an important source has been discovered south of the present Mexican
boundary, it therefore seems probable that the Aztecs and allied
peoples, through trade with tribes to the north, obtained supplies
of turquois from the Cerrillos hills [New Mexico] and perhaps other
localities of the Southwest.”
Sahagun is the only early chronicler who affords information concerning
this point. He writes explicitly that “the Toltecs had discovered
the mine of precious stones in Mexico, called _xiuitl_, which are
turquoises, which mine, according to the ancients, was in a hill called
Xiuhtzone, close to the town of Tepotzotlan [State of Hidalgo].” We
will quote other statements by Sahagun concerning turquois:
The turquois occurs in mines. There are some mines whence more or less
fine stones are obtained. Some are bright, clear, and transparent;
while others are not.... _Teoxiuitl_ is called turquois of the gods.
No one has a right to possess or use it, but always it must be
offered or devoted to a deity. It is a fine stone without any blemish
and quite brilliant. It is rare and comes from a distance. There are
some that are round and resemble a hazelnut cut in two. These are
called _xiuhtomolli_.... There is another stone, used medicinally,
called _xiuhtomoltetl_, which is green and white, and very beautiful.
Its moistened scrapings are good for feebleness and nausea. It is
brought from Guatemala and Soconusco [State of Chiapas]. They make
beads strung in necklaces for hanging around the neck.... There are
other stones, called _xixitl_; these are low-grade turquoises, flawed
and spotted, and are not hard. Some of them are square, and others are
of various shapes, and they work with them the mosaic, making crosses,
images, and other pieces.[30]
If we are to credit Sahagun, turquois was worked not only in the
immediate region of the central Mexican plateau, but they received
supplies from distant points, and specifically from Chiapas and
Guatemala. The raw material mentioned in the Tribute Roll of Montezuma
as coming from coast towns and from the south, must also be taken into
consideration. Hence, notwithstanding the present lack of information
respecting the localities where turquois is to be found _in situ_
in central and southern Mexico, we cannot reject the opinion that
ultimately ancient workings will be found at more than one site in
Mexico. We do not believe it necessary to assume that the source
of supply of both the Toltecs and the Aztecs, as well as of other
tribes, such as the Tarasco, and the Mixtec and Zapotec, which also
made use of this material, was the far-distant region of New Mexico.
It was formerly asserted by some students that the jadeite of Middle
America must have come by trade from China,[31] because no deposits
have as yet been found in the former region; but it is now known by
chemical analysis that the Middle American jadeite is distinct from
that of Asia. In fact, the writer has long held that not alone in one,
but in at least five, different localities, jadeite will in time be
discovered.[32]
[Illustration: PL. VI
MASK OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON]
THE AZTEC LAPIDARIES AND THEIR WORKS
The development of the art of the lapidaries and mosaic-workers, like
that of the goldsmiths, is attributed by Sahagun to the Toltecs, under
the beneficent influence of Quetzalcoatl, the culture hero god. In
treating of the pre-Aztec people called Tultecas, or people of Tollan
or Tula, by Sahagun, he states that they were very skilful in all that
pertained to the fine arts. He writes:
The Tultecas were careful and thorough artificers, like those of
Flanders at the present time, because they were skilful and neat in
whatsoever they put their hands to; everything (they did) was very
good, elaborate, and graceful, as for example, the houses that they
erected, which were very beautiful, and richly ornamented inside with
certain kinds of precious stones of a green color as a coating (to the
walls), and the others which were not so adorned were very smooth,
and worth seeing, and the stone of which they were fashioned appeared
like a thing of mosaic.... They also knew and worked pearls, amber,
and amethyst, and all manner of precious stones, which they made into
jewelry.[33]
We find another statement to the effect that--
The lapidary is very well taught, and painstaking in his craft, a
judge of good stones, which, for working, they take off the rough part
and bring together or cement with others very delicately with bitumen
or wax, in order to make mosaic-work.[34]
In the pictorial section of the Florentine manuscript of Sahagun,[35]
in the Codex Mendoza,[36] and in the Mappe Tlotzin,[37] are pictures
delineating artisans engaged in various crafts, such as weavers,
painters, carpenters (wood-carvers), stone carvers, lapidaries,
goldsmiths, and feather-mosaic workers, yet we find no actual
representation of turquois-mosaic workers. In the third section of
the Codex Mendoza appears a picture of a father teaching his son the
secrets of the lapidary’s art. The interpreter of the codex writes:
The trades of a carpenter, jeweler (lapidary), painter, goldsmith,
and embroiderer of feathers, accordingly as they are represented and
declared, signify that the masters of such arts taught these trades
to their sons from their earliest boyhood, in order that, when grown
up to be men, they might attend to their trades and spend their time
virtuously, counseling them that idleness is the root and mother of
vices, as well as of evil-speaking and tale-bearing, whence followed
drunkenness and robberies, and other dangerous vices, and setting
before their imaginations many other grounds of alarm, that hence they
might submit to be diligent in everything.
The elaborate series of pictures of the various crafts in the
Florentine manuscript of Sahagun (laminas liv to lxiv) includes those
that show in detail the work of the goldsmiths and the feather-workers;
but the illustrations devoted to the lapidaries we are unable to
correlate, in the absence of the text, with the Nahuatl text of the
Sahagun manuscript in the Real Academia de la Historia in Madrid, which
we will give later from the study by Dr. Seler containing a translation
of the native text into French. This description of the work of the
lapidaries informs us only concerning the working and polishing of the
stones. Unlike the other accounts by Sahagun regarding the goldsmiths
and the feather-workers, which enlighten us with respect to the details
of these two fine arts, he does not here enter into any description
concerning the delicate work of the artists who fashioned the beautiful
pieces of stone mosaic. Although such work was turned out by the
Aztecan workmen, as we have already demonstrated, it seems highly
probable that in times immediately preceding the Spanish conquest, the
Aztecan kings Ahuitzotl and Montezuma obtained a considerable number of
such objects through tribute and by barter with the tribes living in
what are now the states of Vera Cruz, Oaxaca, and western Chiapas. As
our knowledge of Mexican archeology, now all too meager, is extended,
it is very probable that we will find vestiges of this art in the
Pacific state of Guerrero, where great numbers of jadeite and other
greenstone objects have been discovered, with a respectable number
of specimens indicating the high artistic skill of the indigenes of
that section. We may also hope to find relics of this art in the area
of Matlaltzincan culture to the north of the valley of Mexico, and
also in the field of Tarascan culture in the states of Michoacan and
Jalisco, for, as will be related, mosaic specimens have been recovered
from ancient ruins as far north as the State of Zacatecas.
[Illustration: PL. VII
MASK OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
PREHISTORIC AND ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUM, ROME]
Sahagun’s account (chap. II) of the work of the lapidaries we herewith
append, with the Nahuatl text and a translation of the French rendering
by Seler.[38]
1. _In tlateque tulteca ynic quitequi yn yztac tehuilotl yoan
tlapaltehuilotl yoan chalchiuitl yoan quetzalitztli ynica teoxalli
yoan tlaquauac tepuztli._
1. The lapidary artisans cut rock-crystal, amethyst, emerald, both
common and precious, by means of emery and with an instrument of
tempered copper:
2. _Auh ynic quichiqui tecpatl tlatetzotzontli._
2. And they scraped it by means of cutting flint.
3. _Auh ynic quicoyonia ynic quimamali teputztlacopintli._
3. And they dug it out (hollowed) and drilled it by means of a little
tube of copper.
4. _Niman yhuian quixteca quipetlaua quitemetzhuia, auh yn yc
quicencaua._
4. And then they faceted it very carefully; they burnished (polished)
it and gave it the final luster.
5. _Ytech quahuitl yn quipetlaua ynic pepetlaca, ynic motonameyotia
ynic tlanextia._
5. They polished it set in wood, so that it comes to be very
brilliant, shining, glossy.
6. _Anoço quetzalotlatl ynitech quilau ynic quicencaua ynic
quiyecchiua yn intultecayo tlatecque._
6. Or they polish it mounted in bamboo, and the lapidaries finish it
thus, and conclude their work.
7. _Auh çannoiuhqui yn tlapaltehuilotl ynic mochiua ynic mocencaua._
7. And in the same manner they work and smooth amethyst.
8. _Achtopa quimoleua quihuipeua teputztica yn tlatecque yn tulteca
ynic yyoca quitlatlalia yn qualli motquitica tlapaltic yn itaqui._
8. In the first place the lapidary artisans break into pieces the
amethyst and crush it with an instrument of copper, for they work only
the beautiful pieces which are entirely reddish.
9. _Çan niman yuhqui tlatlalia yn campa monequiz quimoleua tepuztica._
9. They do not set up the precious stones named in this manner, except
in the parts where it is necessary, when they break them with the
copper instrument.
10. _Auh niman quichiqui quixteca yoan quitemetzhuia yoan quipetlaua
ytech quahuitl yn tlapetlaualoni ynic quiyectilia ynic quicencaua._
10. Then they scrape it, and they facet it, and they smooth it, and
they polish it, mounted in wood, set on the instrument called polisher
or burnisher, and they manufacture and finish it.
11. _Auh yn yehoatl yn moteneua eztecpatl ca cenca tlaquauac chicauac
camo ma vel motequi ynica teoxalli._
11. The stone called blood silex (heliotrope) is very hard and very
strong, and they do not cut it well with emery.
12. _Çaçan motlatlapana motehuia._
12. They break it and they cut it up in any kind of way.
13. _Yoan motepehuilia yn itepetlayo yn amo qualli, yn amo uel no
mopetlaua._
13. And they throw away the vein-stone, the useless stone, that which
does not lend itself readily to polishing.
14. _Çan yehoatl mocui motemolia yn qualli, yn vel mopetlaua yn eztic,
yn uel cuicuiltic._
14. They do not take or seek except the beautiful pieces that lend
themselves to good polishing, the red-banded, that permit themselves
to be well cut.
15. _Michiqui atica yoan ytech tetl cenca tlaquauac vnpa uallauh yn
matlatzinco._
15. They rub them with water and mounted in a very hard stone that
comes from the country of Matlatzinca [district of Toluca].
16. _Ypampa ca uel monoma namiqui, yniuh chicauac tecpatl noyuh
chicauac yn tetl, ynic monepanmictia._
16. And because these two stones are companions, the one to the other,
as the silex is very hard, so the stone is hard, they kill one another
(the one kills the other).
17. _Çatepan mixteca yca teoxalli yoan motemetzhuia yca ezmellil._
17. Then they facet and polish them by means of emery.
18. _Auh çatepan yc mocencaua yc mopetlaua, yn quetzalotlatl._
18. And they finish and polish them with bamboo.
19. _Ynic quicuecueyotza quitonameyomaca._
19. In this way they make them scintillate and give to them a luster
like the rays of the sun.
20. _Auh yn yehoatl motocayotia vitzitziltecpatl niman yuh yolli
tlacati._
20. And that which they call hummingbird silex (stone of a thousand
colors) is (in color like) an animal of that nature.
21. _Miyec tlamantli ynic mocuicuiloua, iztac yoan xoxoctic yoan
yuhquin tletl, anoço yuhqui citlali yoan yuhquin ayauhcoçamalotl._
21. It is tinted (painted) in a thousand colors, white, blue, clear
brilliant red, black with white spots, and the color of the rainbow.
22. _Çan tepiton xalli ynic michiqui ynic mopetlaua._
22. They scrape it and simply polish it with fine sand.
23. _Auh yn yehoatl motocayotia xiuhtomolli camo tlaquauac camo
ezmellil ytech monequi ynic michiqui ynic mixteca yoan ynic
motemetzhuia yoan ynic mopetlaua ynic moquetzalotlahuiaya ynic
motonameyotia motlanexyotia._
23. The stone that they call round turquois is not very hard, so
they have no need of emery to scrape, facet, smooth, or polish, for
they apply to it the bamboo, then it receives its radiant luster and
brilliancy.
24. _Auh yn yehoatl teoxihuitl ca amo cenca tlaquauac._
24. The fine turquois is not very hard either.
25. _Çanno tepiton xalli ynic mopetlaua ynic moyectilia auh yn
uel no yc motlanextilmaca motonameyomaca occentlamantli ytoca
xiuhpetlaualoni._
25. They polish it likewise with fine sand and they give to it a very
brilliant luster and radiance by the method of another polisher,
called the polisher of turquois.
[Illustration: PL. VIII
MASK OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
PREHISTORIC AND ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUM, ROME]
Regarding the patron deities of the lapidaries, Sahagun has given us a
detailed account which is so interesting that we translate _in extenso_.
The lapidaries who worked precious stones in the time of their
pagandom adored four gods, or better said devils: the first was
called _Chicunavitzcuintli_, the second _Naoalpilli_, the third
_Macuilcalli_, and the fourth _Cintcutl_: to all these last three
gods they made a festival when there reigned the sign or character
called _Chicunavitzcuintli_, which is a woman, and for this (reason)
they painted it so: to this (one) they attributed the cosmetics of the
women, and in order to signify this they painted it with a crosier
in the right hand, and in the left they put a shield, in the which
(shield) there was represented a foot. They also put ear-ornaments of
gold on it, and from the cartilage of the nose hung a butterfly of the
same metal, and they dressed it (the idol) with a _uipil_ and woman’s
shirt that was woven white and red, and also the skirts: they put on
some sandals, also colored, having some paintings that appeared like
almonds. To all these four (gods) they gave their images or their
titles, so that they might die in their service on the day of their
festival. That one called _Naoalpilli_ they decked out, and they cut
the strands of hair in unequal lengths, very badly cut, disheveled or
standing on ends, and divided in two parts. They put on the forehead
a delicate plate of gold (thin) like paper, some earrings of gold in
the ears, and in the hand a crosier decorated with rich feathers, and
in the other (hand) a shield made like a net, and in four parts it had
rich feathers badly placed. They also dressed it with a jacket woven
white and red, with edging in the lower end: they also put on it some
colored sandals. And the other god, called _Macuilcalli_, they also
composed like a man, the hair cut in the middle of the head like a
ridge, that is called _quachichiquille_, and this ridge was not of
hair but made of the richest feathers. They placed in the temples some
plates of delicate gold, and a jewel hung from the neck also, made
of a round and wide marine shell. In the hand a crosier made of rich
feathers was placed, and in the other hand was a shield with some
circles of red, some inside the others; they had the body painted
vermilion color, and they also put on it some sandals of the same
color. The other god, called _Cinteutl_, was fashioned in the likeness
of a man, with a mask wrought like mosaic-work, with some rays of the
same (mosaic-work), coming out of the same mask. They put on it a
jacket of cloth dyed light-blue; a jewel of gold hung from the neck.
They place it (the idol) on a high platform from which it looked out,
which platform, called _cincalli_, was composed of cornstalks after
the manner of a _xacal_. They adorned it with some white sandals,
the fastenings of which were made of loose cotton; they say that to
these gods they attribute the artifice of working precious stones, of
the making of barbotes (the tops of helmets), and ear-ornaments of
black stone, of crystal, and of amber, and of other white (stones).
They also attribute to these gods the working of beads, anklets,
strings of pearls which they carried on their wrists, and all kinds of
work in stones and chalchihuites, and the hollowing-out and polishing
of all the stones; they said that these gods had invented it, and for
this reason they were honored as gods, and to them the elder artisans
of this craft and all the other lapidaries made a festival. By night
they intoned their hymns and set the captives who were to die, on
watch in their honor, and they did not work during the festival. This
(festival) was celebrated in Xochimilco, because they said that the
forefathers and ancestors of the lapidaries had come from that town,
and there was the place of origin of these artisans.[39]
[Illustration: PL. IX
MASK OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION. NEW YORK]
The ruler of the eighteenth week of the astrological calendar, or
_tonalamatl_, was a goddess named _Chantico_ or _Quaxolotl_, also
nicknamed _Chiconaui-itzcuintli_,[40] from the ninth day of the
thirteen-day period or week. Seler writes:
She was the goddess of Xochimilco, and consequently also the chief
deity of the guild of the tlatecque, of the stone cutters, the
stone polishers, the jewelers, who were also supposed to come from
Xochimilco. (Duran calls her wrongly Ciuacoatl and identifies her
with the goddess of Colhuacan, which place stood opposite the city
of Xochimilco).... Besides _Chiconaui-itzcuintli_ the stone-cutters
had still a few other titles for the goddess. Such were Papaloxaual
and Tlappepalo, i.e., “she of the red butterfly painting,” and
“she with the red butterfly,” and these have reference to fire....
The stone-cutters also gave their goddess a butterfly as her nasal
ornament, which, red and white, are the colors of her robe.[41]
In some of the different versions or paintings of the _tonalamatl_
contained in old Mexican codices, opposite the delineation of the
goddess Chantico there is placed a fasting man in an enclosure. In both
Codex Borbonicus[42] and Codex Telleriano Remensis,[43] this figure is
found. Seler describes it as--
an enclosure inlaid with gold discs or rings. The interpreter
designates it as “house of gold.” Beyond doubt this name has
reference to one of the four little fasting houses (_necaualcalli_)
which the hero of Tollan, Quetzalcoatl, built for himself, and
naturally corresponded to the four quarters of the heavens, the
first of which was said to be made of gold or embellished with gold
(_coztic teocuitlacalli_), the second decorated with red musselshells
(_tapachcalli_), the third with turquoises (_xiuihcalli_), the fourth
with white musselshells (_teccizcalli_).[44]
Seler draws this inference from the legend given by Sahagun, which we
have translated in full below.
As often is the case, there is some confusion in the description
of Chantico in the early writings. This deity is also asserted to
be a male. In the explanation of the Codex Telleriano Remensis the
attributes of Chantico or Cuaxolotle are recited. It is said that--
Chantico presided over these thirteen signs (a division of the
tonalamatl, or divinatory calendar), and was the lord of chile or of
the yellow woman. He was the first who offered sacrifice after having
eaten fried fish; the smoke of which (sacrifice) ascended to heaven;
at which Tonacotli (Tonacatecutli, the father of all the gods) became
incensed, and pronounced a curse against him that he should be changed
into a dog, which accordingly happened, and he named him Chantico on
this account, which is another name for Miquitlatecotle. From this
transgression the destruction of the world ensued. He was called Nine
Dogs, from the sign on which he was born. Chantico or Cuaxolotle
is the symbol which the country people of Xolotle wear on their
heads.[45] (The symbol of the city of Xolotlan in the Codex Mendoza is
the head of a Dog.)
In the Sahagun manuscript of the Real Palacio in Madrid[46] the deity
is painted with the shirt and skirt of a woman, and also in the Codex
Borbonicus[47] and the Tonalamatl Aubin.[48] In his explanation
of the last codex Seler has treated exhaustively of the various
representations and attributes of this goddess.[49]
Among the laws of the Mexicans was the following:
They hung and very severely punished those sons who squandered the
property left them by their fathers, or destroyed the arms, jewels, or
remarkable things that their fathers had left.[50]
[Illustration: PL. X
MASK OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION, NEW YORK]
In another study[51] we have called attention, as follows, to the daily
traffic of gold and precious stones in the great market of Tenochtitlan.
Cortés describes the great market of Tenochtitlan, and the great
quantity of things daily exposed for sale included jewels of gold,
silver, and stones. The Anonymous Conqueror, in describing the great
market, states that “on one side of the plaza are those who sell
gold, and adjoining are those who sell precious stones of various
classes set in gold, in the shapes of various birds and animals.”[52]
This refers to mosaic jewels with stone and gold inlays. Cortés
further informs us that Montezuma had in his house representations
in gold, silver, stones, or feathers, of every object of his domain,
beautifully executed; and there is also a statement (by Ixtlilxochitl)
that in the collection of Nezahualcoyotl, king of Texcoco, were the
representations in stone mosaic-work and gold of every bird, fish, or
animal which could not be obtained alive.[53]
A most interesting description is given by Sahagun of one of the
edifices erected by the Toltecs in Tula. If true, it clearly shows
that in pre-Aztec times much more elaborately decorated buildings were
erected than in the more recent period, for there are no accounts in
the writings of the Spaniards of such lavishly ornamented buildings
existing in the numerous cities conquered by them during the beginning
of the sixteenth century. This is corroborated by the excavations now
being conducted in the ruins of Teotihuacan, the greatest city known
to us from Toltec times, where some marvelous structures have been
unearthed.[54] The temple in question is said by Sahagun to have been
built in honor of Quetzalcoatl, and included in its embellishment some
of the most precious work of which they were capable.
It had four halls. The eastern one (had the walls) covered with plates
of gold, and it was called the golden hall or house. The western
hall was called the hall of emeralds, or turquoises, because inside
they had (the walls) covered with fine stonework, with all manner of
stones, all placed and joined (together) as a coating or covering,
like work of mosaic. The southern hall had the walls of divers marine
shells, and in place of any other covering, they had silver, which
was put together so nicely with the shells that the joints were not
visible. The fourth hall, the northern one, had the walls made of
colored jasper and shell, put on in a very ornamental manner.[55]
The fame of this temple or palace seems to have been firmly
established, as Sahagun recurs to it in another part of his history,
but in less detail. Sahagun follows the fortunes of the culture
hero while he was in the ascendency in Tula, and states that
later, owing to circumstances which it is needless to relate in
this place, Quetzalcoatl determining to abandon Tula, ordered the
burning of “all the houses that he had made of silver and shell, and
furthermore commanded that other precious things should be buried
in the neighboring hills and ravines.”[56] This indicates that the
mosaic-decorated building was laid in ruins, and part of the treasure,
at least, was buried before the inhabitants left the region and
commenced the migration southward.
In presenting the tradition of this migration of Quetzalcoatl, Sahagun
states that he (Quetzalcoatl) is reputed to have made and erected some
houses underground which are called _Mientlancalco_. This of course
refers to the famous ruins of Mitla, and seems to be an authentic
tradition of the Nahuan origin of this important city of southern
Mexico. It is doubly significant, when considered in connection with
the description of the mosaic-decorated buildings in Tula, for, as is
well known, the dominant architectural feature of the Mitla group of
structures is the mosaic treatment of many of their outer and inner
walls.
[Illustration: PL. XI
MASK OF WOOD (FRAGMENT) WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION, NEW YORK]
It is not necessary to give more than brief attention to this
application of mosaic-work in architecture. The traditional
mosaic-decorated buildings of Tula have disappeared, but the structures
of Mitla are still standing in an excellent state of preservation, and
moreover are easily accessible to travelers by rail and automobile;
therefore they have been visited and admired by more people than
perhaps any ruins in ancient America. In the embellishment of the walls
a true mosaic decoration was employed, differing in kind only from
the turquois mosaic on small objects. Geometric patterns were produced
by fitting together small stones of different shapes and sizes, some
of which were more deeply imbedded than others, so that the designs
were traced out by the stones which projected more than others; in
single panels, several planes were necessary to bring out the desired
patterns. In many cases the stones are so neatly fitted that the joints
can hardly be traced. We have written elsewhere that--
the massiveness of the construction and simple and chaste
ornamentation place the Mitla structures in a class unapproached by
any other existing ruined edifices in ancient America. The workmanship
revealed in the stonework, the elegant precision with which the
stones are laid and carved, is not equaled in any of the Mayan
ruins. However, as noted by Holmes, the geometric fretwork mosaics
differ from the great façades of the Mayan buildings “in subject
matter rather than in kind, for the decorated surfaces there, though
depicting animal forms, are mosaics in the sense that they are made
up of separate hewn or carved stones set in mortar to form ornamental
designs.”[57]
OBJECTS DECORATED WITH MOSAIC
In the ancient chronicles are found many descriptions of the employment
of mosaic-work decoration in the central Mexican region. From the
writings of Sahagun and others it is clearly evident that many
such decorated objects were made for and were used as parts of the
paraphernalia with which great idols of wood or of stone representing
various deities were adorned for the frequent religious festivals which
occurred at stated intervals. The rulers and the priests and members of
the so-called nobility used such objects on these occasions. The major
employment of the mosaic art seems to have been for the adornment of
objects or ornaments used ceremonially, such as crowns or head-bands,
helmets, masks, shields, scepters, ear-ornaments, nose-ornaments,
breast-plates, bracelets, and anklets. The material on which the mosaic
incrustation was placed was chiefly wood, but gold, shell, bone, and
stone were also used. Small figures of the gods, either in human or in
animal form, as well as musical instruments, were thus adorned. There
are also indications that pottery vessels were sometimes decorated by
embedding turquois in the clay.
Unfortunately we still possess only scant knowledge of the various
objects ornamented in this manner. In the data obtained from the early
chronicles there is abundant evidence that, in the central plateau of
Mexico during the period immediately preceding the Spanish conquest,
the art was highly developed. Visual evidence is at hand in the few
beautiful examples now in European museums, specimens which were sent
across the water by Cortés during the earliest period of the conquest,
between the years 1518 and 1525.
A few references from some of the early writers regarding the use of
turquois mosaic by the Aztecs will be presented.
[Illustration: PL. XII
MASK OF WOOD (FRAGMENT) WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION, NEW YORK]
Stone idols were often decorated with mosaic incrustations. Andrés
de Tapia describes an idol probably representing Huitzilopochtli,
showing this type of embellishment, in the great temple at
Tenochtitlan. Tapia’s account is worthy of attention, for he was one of
the captains of Cortés, and took a prominent part in the capture of the
capital of Montezuma. He writes:
There were two idols on two pedestals, each one of the bulk of an ox;
the pedestals measured a yard in height, and above these (were) two
idols, each one almost three yards in height, of polished grain: and
the stone was covered over with nacre, which is the shell in which
pearls are created, and over this (mother-of-pearl), fastened with
bitumen after the manner of paste, were (set in) many jewels of gold,
and men, snakes, birds, and histories (hieroglyphs), made of small
and large turquoises, of emeralds and amethysts, so that all the
mother-of-pearl was covered, except in some places where they left it
(uncovered) so as to make work with the stones. These idols had plump
snakes of gold (as) girdles, and for collars each (one had) ten or
twelve hearts made of gold, and for the face a mask of gold and eyes
of mirror (obsidian or iron pyrites), and they had another face in the
back of the head like the head of a man without flesh.[58]
Pomar describes the idol of Huitzilopochtli as of wood, “having on
the breast a jewel of turquoises set in gold, with some gold bells
(hanging), and on the face (were) two stripes of gold and two of
turquoises, very beautifully wrought and placed.”[59]
In describing this idol, Bernal Díaz writes that “the whole body was
covered with precious stones, and gold and pearls, and with seed pearls
stuck on with a paste that they make in this country out of a sort of
root, and all the body and head was covered with it, and the body was
girdled by great snakes made of gold and precious stones.” He goes on
to mention another idol close to it, which held “a short lance and a
shield richly decorated with gold and stones.”[60]
Concerning the ancestral treasure of the Aztecan kings which Montezuma
inherited from his father Axayacatl, finally exacted by Cortés from the
unfortunate ruler, Bernal Díaz describes “three blowguns with their
pellet molds and their coverings of jewels and pearls, and pictures in
feathers of little birds covered with pearl shell, and other birds, all
of great value.[61]
Tezozomoc, in describing the great sacrifices offered to the god
Huitzilopochtli in honor of the coronation of Montezuma, and the
presents brought by neighboring chiefs and lords as tributes from the
various towns under their jurisdiction, writes:
In the center of the great square there was a building (_xacal_) where
was the _teponaztli_, and the great _tlapanhuehuetl_ with which they
made music. On the _xacal_ was the device of the Mexican arms with a
small _peñula_ (rock?) of painted paper, like a natural rock, with a
great cactus (_tuna_) on it, and on the cactus a royal eagle having
in its claws a great mangled snake, and the eagle had a crown of
doubled or twisted paper very well (made) and gilded, and (with) very
rich stone mosaic-work round about it, in the Mexican custom called
_teocuitla amayxcuatzolli_.[62]
At this festival Montezuma had the king of Aculhuacan attired in
special raiment, which Tezozomoc describes as “a netted mantle with
much rich stonework in the knots of the mantle, and with little gold
bells hanging from the fringe.[63]
According to Sahagun, Xiuhtecutli, god of fire, wore “earrings in the
holes of the ears worked with mosaics of turquois.... In his left hand
he carried a shield with five greenstones called _chalchihuite_, placed
like a cross on a round gold plate, which nearly covered the whole of
the shield.”[64]
[Illustration: PL. XIII
MASK OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION, NEW YORK]
Chalchihuitlicue, goddess of water, fountains, and rivers, wore
earrings of turquois fashioned in mosaic-work. In describing the
idol of Quetzalcoatl, Sahagun says that, for ceremonial occasions,
ear-ornaments of turquois mosaic were placed on it, and “in the
right hand was placed a scepter like a bishop’s crosier or staff,
the upper part crooked like a bishop’s staff, and wrought with stone
mosaic-work.” In treating of the presents sent to Cortés by Montezuma
we have already given the description of the paraphernalia pertaining
to this deity. This scepter is there described as having “the crook
like the head of a snake turned around or coiled.” In the codices the
god or his priest is represented with this staff with a crook, but the
serpent-headed scepter is shown by Sahagun (manuscript of the Real
Palacio, Madrid, estampa VII, fig. 1) as part of the ceremonial outfit
of Huitzilopochtli (fig. 5). The body of the serpent is painted blue,
representing the scales done in turquois mosaic.
[Illustration: FIG. 5]
In describing the god Tezcatlipoca, Pomar states that he was
represented with “a mask with three stripes (_vetas_) of _espejuelo_
(either transparent lamellated gypsum [selenite], or more probably
obsidian), and two of gold, which crossed over the face.”[65] The idol
was fashioned from wood in the figure of a man. _Espejuelo_, he states,
was a kind of shining metal called _tezcapoctli_.
In the invocation to the god Paynal, which has been preserved to us in
the original Mexican tongue by Sahagun, is the strophe, “_yxiuh chimal,
xiuhtica tlatzaqualli chimalli imax mani_,” which has been translated
by Seler, “the blue shield, covered with the turquois mosaic, hangs
from his arm ... he carries the (blue mosaic) shield.”[66] This chapter
was copied by Seler from the manuscript in the Real Palacio, Madrid.
In the reproduction of the pictorial part of the manuscript published
in colors by Troncoso, we find the representation of this deity, in
which the mosaic shield is graphically drawn and painted blue (see our
fig. 70, p. 17). Sahagun (book 1, chap. 2) briefly describes “this god
called Paynal, who was a kind of under-captain of Huitzilopochtli.” He
is said to have been a man adored as a god.
The Anonymous Conqueror affords valuable information regarding the use
of shields. He says:
They use shields of various kinds, made of thick reeds which grow in
that country, interwoven with cotton of double thickness, and they
cover them with precious stones (turquois mosaic-work) and round
plates of gold, which make them so strong that nothing can go through
them, unless from a good crossbow. Some arrows, it is true, pierced
them, but could do no harm. And because some of these shields have
been seen in Spain, I say that they are not of the kind borne in
war, but only those used in the festivals and dances which they are
accustomed to have.[67]
In his chapter devoted to a consideration of “the finery that the lords
used in their dances,” Sahagun mentions “bracelets of mosaic-work made
of turquoises,” and also “masks worked in mosaic, and (having) false
hair such as they now use, and some plumes of gold which came out of
the masks.” He further describes the costumes, as follows:
They also wear attached to the wrists thick bands of black leather
made soft with balsam, and decorated with a large bead of chalchihuitl
or other precious stone. They also wore labrets of chalchihuitl set in
gold, placed through the flesh, although they do not have this custom
now. They also have these ornaments made of large rock-crystals,
with blue feathers set in them, which give them the appearance of
sapphires. They wear also many other precious stones protruding
through openings made in the lower lip. The noses of the great lords
are also pierced, and they wear in the openings fine turquoises and
other precious stones, one on each side. They wear also some strings
of precious stones around the neck; they wear a disc of gold hanging
from a collar, and in the middle of it a plain precious stone, and
around the circumference some pendants of pearls. They use bracelets
of mosaic-work made of turquois, with some rich feathers which come
out from them higher than the head, and bordered with rich plumes and
gold, and some bands of gold which rise with the feathers.[68]
[Illustration: PL. XIV
MASK OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION. NEW YORK]
The distinctive head-band or crown worn by the Mexican rulers is
mentioned by numerous early writers and illustrated in many codices.
It was known as the _xiuhtzolli_ or _xiuhuitzontli_, and was called
also _copilli_. We have selected for illustration (fig. 6) two examples
from the codices. The first (_a_) is taken from the Sahagun manuscript
of the Real Academia de la Historia, Madrid (estampa XVII). This page
contains pictures of a number of Aztecan rulers, all represented with
the turquois-mosaic crown painted blue. Moreover, the hieroglyphic
name of Montezuma, here placed above his head, is a mosaic crown. The
crown itself was of gold, on which the turquois mosaic was placed. The
other example (_b_) is from the Tribute Roll of Montezuma (Peñafiel
edition, pl. XIX). It is part of the hieroglyph for the place-name
Tecmilco, signifying “the lands of the royal crown,” the combination
being the crown painted blue resting on the sign for cultivated land.
Our figure shows a plain gold crown, but it is painted blue in the
codex.
[Illustration: _a_ FIG. 6 _b_]
A copper crown from Tenango, State of Mexico, has been figured by
Peñafiel. It is properly a head-band with a triangular projection
with rounded top which rose from the forehead, and was probably worn
by a warrior or sub-chief.[69] In this work Peñafiel illustrates the
mask in Rome (see our pl. VII), and states that the upper part is a
_xiuhhuitzolli_, or turquois-mosaic crown. We will discuss this point
later. Many years ago, in Mexico, the writer heard of a gold _copilli_
as having been found in the Matlaltzincan region near Toluca, but was
never able to verify the story. A few extracts from the chroniclers,
relating to these golden crowns with turquois mosaic, follow.
In the Codex Cozcatzin the Aztec king Axayacatl is represented with the
_xiuhuitzontli_, the turquois mosaic-work head-band.[70]
In the selection of Ahuitzotl as king, Tezozomoc writes:
They put on him the crown which was blue, of rich stone mosaic-work,
(in shape) like a half miter called _xiuhtzolli_ (or _xihuitzolli_),
and also placed on him, among other things, a netted mantle strewn
with small stonework. This formed part of his costume when he went to
the temple of Huitzilopochtli to worship. When adored by neighboring
subjugated tribes he wore a crown of gold (adorned) with much stone
mosaic-work of a half miter shape, and on the left shoulder was put a
sash called _matemacatl_ which was all gilded and enameled with fine
stone mosaic-work, which was also called _teocuitla cozehuatl_, as
we now speak of a shoe-ribbon, and on the foot was placed something
like an anklet of _acero_ [_sic_] strewn with emerald stones, all
gilded.[71]
Duran states that among the offerings buried with the Aztec king
Ahuitzotl were “crowns of the fashion that they used, of gold and of
stone mosaic-work.”[72]
It is related by Tezozomoc that after the death of Netzahualpilli, king
of Texcoco, Montezuma assembled the senate of Aculhuacan in order to
select a new king. The choice fell on the fifth son, Quetzalacxoyatl.
In the ceremony of investiture they placed on him “the blue crown or
forehead-band decorated with stone mosaic-work.”[73]
The Anonymous Conqueror writes:
To guard the head, they carry things like the heads of serpents,
tigers, lions, or wolves with open jaws, and the head of the man is
inside the head of the creature as if it was being devoured. They
are of wood covered over with feathers and with jewels of gold and
precious stones, which is a wonderful sight.[74]
From Alonso de Molina’s _Vocabulario Mexicano_ (Mexico, 1555, reprinted
1571) we are able to interpret the Nahuan words which occur in the
chronicles in connection with the use of turquois in the decoration
of various objects. The following are some of the more common:
_nacochtli_, ear-plugs; _tentetl_, labret; _yacaxuitl_, nose-ornament;
_copilli_, crown; _xiuhxayacatl_, mask of turquois mosaic; _xayacatl_,
mask; _cactli_, sandal; _tilmatl_, mantle; _amaneahapantli_,
mantle for lords richly wrought; _teopixcatla-quemitl_, vestment
of priests; _ecaceuaztli_, fan; _chimalli_, shield; _teteotl_,
stone idol; _tequacuilli_, large stone idol or statue; _xiuitl_,
turquois; _tlaquauac xiuitl_, hard turquois; _xiuhtomolli_, turquois;
_omichicauaztli_, bone musical instrument; _ayacachtli_, rattle.
[Illustration: PL. XV
MASK OF WOOD (FRAGMENT) WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION, NEW YORK]
EXISTING SPECIMENS OF MOSAIC
We will now consider the existing specimens of mosaic-work. It has been
demonstrated, by the extended quotations from the old chronicles and
codices, that this art was considerably employed in adorning objects
of a special nature in connection with the dress of kings, nobles,
warriors, and priests, and the paraphernalia of the gods. We have at
present no actual examples of many of the objects which we have learned
were thus ornamented, consequently whatever conception we may gain by
a study of existing specimens will give us an inadequate idea of the
art. It is evident that the most elaborate works in stone mosaic sent
to Europe, as noted in the inventories, have not been preserved, a fact
borne out by the descriptions in the early accounts of the discovery
and “things” of Mexico. Moreover, many of the pieces now in European
museums are either in a poor state of preservation or are incomplete.
Until recently only twenty-four major examples of mosaic-work had
come to light and been placed on record by printed description and
illustration. Of these twenty-three are in Europe. The other specimen
was found a few years ago in a cave in Honduras, and for some time was
exhibited in the National Museum at Washington, but later came into the
possession of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. The
twenty-three known specimens in Europe were probably all sent to the
Old World by Cortés or his companions.
Some years ago an Indian found a deposit of ceremonial objects of
wood, incrusted with mosaic-work, in a cave in the mountains of the
Mixteca region of the State of Puebla. These specimens, seventeen in
number, are now exhibited in the Museum of the American Indian, Heye
Foundation. The chief object of this monograph is to describe and
illustrate this unique collection.
We are also now enabled to record and illustrate, through the courtesy
of the officials of the Peabody Museum, Harvard University, four other
objects decorated with mosaic-work. These were found in the sacred
_cenote_ at the ruins of Chichen Itza, Yucatan, and are now exhibited
in the Central American hall of the Museum mentioned. This brings the
number of known specimens to forty-five, of which twenty-two are in
the United States, and twenty-three in Europe. These specimens are now
preserved in the following museums:
British Museum, London, nine specimens.
Prehistoric and Ethnographic Museum, Rome, five specimens.
Ethnographical Museum, Berlin, three specimens.
State Natural History Museum, Vienna, three specimens.
National Museum, Copenhagen, two specimens.
Museum, Gotha, one specimen.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York, eighteen
specimens.
Peabody Museum, Cambridge, four specimens.
In this census are not included the minor objects with mosaic
decoration, which we will also describe. Of the forty-five pieces
enumerated, all but three are of wood; two are human skulls, and one a
human femur. As the European specimens have hitherto been described,
and in some instances their history traced to the middle of the
sixteenth century, it will be necessary only to refer the student
to these studies, note of which will be found in the bibliography
at the close of this volume. In the present study we have assembled
photographs or drawings of all of these major specimens, as well as of
nearly all the minor pieces, and drawings of some of the mosaic objects
represented in color in the codices. Our pictorial record is therefore
practically complete.
MINOR EXAMPLES
The use of mosaic incrustation in the decoration of stone idols is
illustrated in pl. II. This stone figure, 3 feet 10 inches high, came
from Cozcatlan, district of Tehuacan, Puebla, and is now preserved in
the National Museum of Mexico. It represents the goddess Coatlicue,
mother of Huitzilopochtli, the Aztecan war god. The Sahagun manuscript
in the Real Palacio, Madrid, represents this deity with a rattlesnake
girdle around the waist; held in the right hand is a staff in the
form of a rattlesnake with the head downward, and having depending
feathers projecting from the rattles, which are opposite the face of
the figure. Above the deity is the caption “_Yztac ciuatl coatlicue_.”
This statue, together with another, of colossal size, also in the
Museo Nacional of Mexico, has often been denominated _Teoyamiqui_,
and again at times it has been called _Mictecacihuatl_. The turquois
decoration is still preserved in the statue illustrated, in the
incrustation of the circular ear-ornaments and in the discs of mosaic
in each cheek. The teeth are made of white shell; the inner part of
the mouth is of red shell; the nose is inlaid with white shell. There
are traces of incrustation around the eyes, but this mosaic feature is
practically destroyed. In the breast is set a circular mirror of iron
pyrites. Around the upper part of the forehead are small holes which
probably at one time contained stone or shell inlays. A poorly colored
representation of this idol has been published by Brocklehurst, with
the title “Teoyamiqui, goddess of death.”[75]
[Illustration: PL. XVI
MASK OF WOOD, MOSAIC DECORATION MISSING
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION, NEW YORK]
One of the most interesting uses of turquois-mosaic decoration was in
the embellishment of wooden covers for the ancient books or codices. We
are fortunate in still having preserved even a single example bearing
traces of this art. In 1896 the Due de Loubat had reproduced the first
of his series of Mexican codices, being the first to appear in exact
facsimile, even to the ancient binding. This work was Codex Vaticanus
No. 3773, a pre-Columbian Nahua picture-writing preserved in the
Vatican Library. In a pamphlet by Francisco del Paso y Troncoso which
accompanies the reproduction is an interesting description of the book,
from which we quote with respect to the covers:
It is of fine and thin wood. Each cover measures six by five
inches.... The wood of the covers is whitish, and traces of the
brilliant lacquer which covered it may still be seen.... (One) cover
bears a character which shows us that this is the point at which to
begin the reading of the book. As in modern binding the first cover
bears a lettering or coat-of-arms; so too, as a rule, the Indians
indicated the beginning of their books, and placed on the first cover
the decorative incrustations which indicate that here is the first
page.... On the center of the cover, placed two in a line, are four
reliefs. At first these appeared to have been made by impression on
the lacquer, but Monseigneur Francisco Plancarte, who examined them
with a microscope, has discovered that they are composed of a paste
with which the Indians fasten precious stones in their settings, and
in these incrustations we have the impress left by the inequalities of
the materials once fixed on the surface. One round greenstone is left,
of the kind used by the Mexicans in their mosaics; it is on the upper
right-hand corner of the volume, when held ready to be opened. Below
it, in the lower right-hand corner may be observed a corresponding
conical shaped depression, and the remains of the lacquer in which a
stone was fixed. In the other angles there is no trace of anything,
proving that nothing existed there of the same kind as that which
remains.
In the Loubat reproduction all these features are faithfully
represented, even to the single greenstone remaining in place.
The existence of mosaic objects in the Zapotecan region of Oaxaca was
one of the important discoveries made by the Loubat Expedition of the
American Museum of Natural History, under the direction of the writer,
during the winters of 1898 and 1902. In mounds locally called _mogotes_
were discovered stone burial chambers in which skeletons interred with
numerous offerings were uncovered.
In the burial vaults at Xoxo, excavated in 1898, practically no
personal ornaments were found, but fragments of mosaic objects were
discovered in the form of bits of shell, obsidian, jadeite, turquois,
and hematite, on fragmentary stucco matrices.[76]
[Illustration: PL. XVII
MASK OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION FROM HONDURAS
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION, NEW YORK]
In the graves and tombs at Cuilapa were discovered many personal
ornaments made of jadeite, amazon stone, and turquois. In an excavation
made during January, 1902, in the great temple mound, or teocalli,
dominating the group of mogotes at Cuilapa, a grave was discovered on
the summit at a depth of six feet from the surface. It contained the
skeleton of a child, whose bones, together with the accompanying
artifacts, were stained bright-red by hematite paint which had been
thrown into the grave. Surrounding the skeleton were seventeen
greenstone idols in the form of human figures; more than four hundred
beads of greenstone and jadeite of varying sizes; thirty-five shells
of various kinds, perforated for suspension; bits of mother-of-pearl,
obsidian, and hematite, which evidently were fragments of disintegrated
mosaic objects; but the most interesting objects recovered were a pair
of small discs of pottery, upon the flat upper surfaces of which were
cemented small pieces of very thin, highly-polished hematite, placed in
mosaic. These last were undoubtedly mirrors, although from the small
perforation in the center of each we are inclined to regard the pair as
having been used also as ear-ornaments. One of these specimens should
be in the Museo Nacional of Mexico, where it belongs; the other is in
the American Museum of Natural History. The latter, now illustrated for
the first time (fig. 7), is an inch and three-quarters in diameter, and
an eighth of an inch in thickness. Our reproduction of this interesting
object has been made possible by the courtesy of Dr. Clark Wissler,
Curator of Anthropology.
[Illustration: FIG. 7]
An interesting specimen of the combination of gold with turquois
mosaic in jewelry has been recently figured in colors, and described
by the writer (see fig. 8).[77] It is in the form of a shield, with
four arrows or darts and pendent bells, and has an extreme length of
three and one-eighth inches from the top of the shield to the bottom
of the central bells. We have described in detail the meaning of the
hieroglyph formed by the mosaic-work, and shown that the brooch-like
jewel was the insignia of one of the four principal chiefs of the
Aztecan army, who governed one of the four wards, or _calpullis_, into
which Tenochtitlan, the capital of Montezuma, was divided. As a matter
of fact, the jewel was found in a grave in Yanhuitlan, in the Mixteca
region of Oaxaca. It is the only known specimen that shows turquois
set on gold, a combination to which we have called attention, in
quoting from Sahagun and others, regarding turquois mosaic on crowns,
bracelets, and other gold objects for personal adornment.
[Illustration: FIG. 8]
In the collections of the Museum of the American Indian, Heye
Foundation, are three mirrors faced with highly-polished marcasite
on their original matrices, apparently slate--the only specimens of
this character that we have seen. Two of these mirrors, which were
collected by William Niven from ancient graves near Iguala, Guerrero,
are perforated for suspension, and all three average five inches in
diameter and a quarter of an inch in thickness. With these mirrors
were found numerous little unpolished cubes of iron pyrites, which
may have been intended for use in mosaic-work. There are, however, a
number of rather thin, flat, irregularly shaped pieces, with very thin
matrix of stone, and with beveled edges, which unquestionably have been
parts of mirrors made in mosaic fashion similar to those found in the
Cuilapa grave, the only difference being that the inlays from Iguala
are larger and thicker than those on the Cuilapa specimens, which are
simply thin sheets of hematite. The region where the Iguala specimens
were discovered was probably the seat of a people of Nahuan culture.
[Illustration: PL. XVIII
MASK OF HUMAN SKULL WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
ETHNOGRAPHICAL MUSEUM, BERLIN]
In 1908 Dr. Manuel Gamio conducted an important excavation of an
ancient building at the site known as the monuments of Alta Vista, near
Chalchihuites, Zacatecas, in northern Mexico. In a large chamber called
the Hall of the Columns, Gamio found two mosaics in a small circular
compartment in the concrete floor. One of these was a disc of yellow
pottery encircled by a ring of wood, the entire object being about two
and three-quarters inches in diameter and three-eighths of an inch
thick. The wooden ring bore traces of a coating of resin, and many tiny
bits which formed the mosaic incrustation were found with it, although
not in place. The bits that had formed the mosaic were thin plates
of worked turquois, beryl, and steatite. From the fact that the disc
contained perforations, evidently for suspension, Gamio described it as
a breast ornament.
The other mosaic piece Gamio believes to have been a labret. He writes
that “at first glance its shape may be described as resembling the
bridge of a violin.... Its nucleus is wood, carved to represent two
symmetrical figures of an alligator (_caiman_), united at the belly.
Crowning the head are two head plumes, each having two branches. Above
the point of union of the two reptiles there is a square projection
with a perforation.”[78] The surface of the ornament had been covered
with small spherical plates of turquois, beryl, and steatite.
Near these two mosaic ornaments were found numerous small pieces of
turquois and beryl of different shapes.
In October, 1921, the Spanish newspaper _La Prensa_, New York,
published a short account, received by letter from the City of Mexico,
describing what purported to be an extraordinary discovery made early
in the autumn. It related to the finding of a stone mask decorated in
mosaic, discovered by one of the assistants of the Museo Nacional in
a sepulchral chamber in Guerrero. This mask was described as being
about eight inches high, the human face being partly covered with an
incrustation of small pieces of turquois, with small bits of coral
shell above the eyebrows and below the nose. Each eye was formed by an
oval piece of pearl shell, with pupils of hematite. The mosaic covering
was missing from the upper part of the forehead and the chin.
The newspaper _Excelsior_ of Mexico City, under date of October 20,
1921, published a photograph of the specimen and a detailed study of
the object in a statement signed by José María Arreola, a member of
the staff of the Department of Anthropology in the City of Mexico.
In this statement Arreola casts doubt on the authenticity of the
specimen, pointing out that none of the known pieces of mosaic-work
in European collections are of stone; that the surface of the mask is
polished, which would make it difficult for the incrustation to have
adhered during centuries of burial; that there are no traces of dirt
in the cracks between the pieces of turquois, and finally he calls
attention to a strong odor of glue which pervades the object. These
arguments seemed sufficient to cast serious doubt as to the genuineness
of the mosaic decoration of the mask. No such question was raised in
regard to the mask itself. In a brief article entitled “Una Mascara de
Mosaico Falsificada,” published in _Ethnos_ (nos. 8-12, dated Mexico,
Nov. 1920-Mar. 1921), the same writer categorically asserts that the
specimen is fraudulent, and calls on the reputed finder, Sr. Don
Porfirio Aguirre, to present the evidence regarding the exact place
where the specimen was discovered in order that further excavation may
be made with a view of establishing beyond question the history of such
an important and unique discovery.[79]
[Illustration: PL. XIX
MASK OF HUMAN SKULL WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON]
Precious and semi-precious stones were occasionally inserted singly for
decorative purposes. In this respect we may simply refer, in passing,
to the custom in ancient Mexico and Central America of decorating the
teeth by inserting inlays in the upper incisors, turquois, jadeite,
hematite, obsidian, and rock-crystal having been used in such manner.
Rarely two, and in one instance three, insets have been found in a
single tooth; but this form of decoration can in no sense be considered
as mosaic.[80]
Another example of the use of turquois as an inlay is supposed to
be unique. Many years ago we obtained from Don Francisco Belmar a
beautiful tripod vessel supporting against the side a polychrome human
figure in the round, representing the god Macuilxochitl, god of dance
and sport--the deity represented with the painted design around the
mouth. It is not necessary here to discuss the question raised by Seler
regarding the attributes and representations of the two analogous
gods Macuilxochitl and Xochipilli. The vessel here seems clearly to
be Macuilxochitl, corresponding with that given by Sahagun in the
manuscript of the Real Palacio, Madrid. What is of interest is the
disc of turquois inserted in the clay on the upper left-hand part of
the chest, unquestionably there placed to denote some attribute of the
deity.
CHICHEN ITZA SPECIMENS
We will now consider some interesting examples from the Mayan ruins
of Chichen Itza, Yucatan, which were found in the sacred well, or
_cenote_, at that site. This sacred well is described by Casares in
1905[81] as arousing the admiration and awe of the Indians even to
this day. It is about 450 feet north of the great pyramid known as the
Castillo, and a paved way, several inches high, leads to it. At the
brink is a small temple. The cenote is about 150 feet in diameter; the
level of the water is 70 feet below the surface, and it is 40 feet
deep, with a deposit of mud estimated to be about 30 feet in thickness.
Landa writes: “They [the Maya] held Cozumel and the well of Chichen
Itza in the same veneration as do pilgrims now Jerusalem and Rome,
and so they used to visit them, carrying their offerings chiefly to
Cozumel, as holy places, and when they could not go, they sent them.”
In another place this author states that “they had the habit then of
throwing into this well living men as sacrifices to their gods in
time of drought, and they thought that these would not die, though
they never saw them again. They used also to throw precious stones
and the things they most prized. Just on the brink of the well is a
small building where I found all kinds of idols in honor of all the
gods of the land.”[82] Casares adds: “What Landa, Cogolludo, and all
other writers had narrated from mere hearsay, one of the distinguished
members of the [American Antiquarian] Society, Mr. E. H. Thompson,
has had the satisfaction to realize, bringing to light the truth of
these statements, by diligent and intelligent work, the results of
which I will not mention, as that grateful and honorable task belongs
exclusively to him.”[83]
Holmes wrote in 1895 of the sacred cenote as follows:
The Sacred Cenote is larger, and more symmetrical than the other, and,
occurring in the midst of the somber forest, is a most impressive and
awe-inspiring spectacle. Its charm is enhanced by the weird stories
of human sacrifice associated correctly or incorrectly with its
history. The walls are nearly circular and approach the perpendicular
closely all around. They are diversified only by the encircling ribs
and pitted grooves produced by the uneven weathering of the massive,
horizontally-bedded limestones. The water has a light coffee color
and looks very impure. It is shallow on one side and of unknown depth
on the other. A small tomb-like ruin is perched upon the brink. It
is conjectured that this structure had something to do with the
ceremonies attending the casting of victims and treasure into the
terrible pool. There has been some talk of exploring the accumulations
from the bottom of this cenote with the expectation of securing works
of art or other treasures, but the task is a most formidable one and
will require the erection of strong windlasses and efficient dredging
apparatus. It is doubtful if promised results warrant the outlay
necessary for carrying out the work in a thorough manner.[84]
[Illustration: PL. XX
SHIELD OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON]
Nevertheless, a few years later, as hinted by Casares, Mr. Edward H.
Thompson secured the complete confirmation of the traditions concerning
the character of the cenote. He brought out of the mud a most amazing
archeological treasure. Through the kindness of Prof. A. M. Tozzer we
are enabled to include here drawings of four pieces of mosaic-work
which were among the many interesting things discovered. As Professor
Tozzer and Dr. Spinden are engaged in an exhaustive study of the cenote
material for publication, we will not further anticipate the results of
their investigations.
[Illustration: FIG. 9]
[Illustration: FIG. 10]
In figs. 9 and 10 are illustrated two small fragments of wooden
objects from the cenote which still retain portions of turquois-mosaic
decoration. In fig. 9 the irregularly shaped piece in the center is
a thin plate of gold. Both fragments are evidently from objects of
considerable size. Several wooden teeth covered with the same kind of
mosaic incrustation were probably from a jaguar mask or head.
Pl. III represents two fairly complete specimens from the cenote. Of
these, _a_ is a small staff or scepter, the face of which is covered
with turquois mosaic, and it is possible that the headdress was once
similarly incrusted. In _b_ is shown a rattle of wood, within which
is a copper bell. Only two bits of turquois of the mosaic decoration
remain.
[Illustration: FIG. 11]
In this object we find in the Mexican pictures an instrument analogous
to the one last mentioned. In both of the Sahagun manuscripts, that of
the Real Palacio in Madrid and the one in Florence, are representations
of the deity Xipe Totec. In the former manuscript is found the name
of the god written above the figure, _Xippe anavatlitec_, translated
by Seler as “Xipe, lord of the coastland.” He is an earth deity, “our
lord the flayed,” for he is represented wearing loosely about him a
human skin. He was the patron deity of the goldsmiths of the valley of
Mexico, and is said to have been paid special homage by the people of
the Teotitlan district, the beginning of the highway to Tabasco. In
the pictures given by Sahagun, and in other codices, this god carried
a long staff which terminates in a kind of rattle (fig. 11), similar
in shape to that found in the cenote of Chichen Itza. It was called
_chicauaztli_ by the Nahua, and Seler asserts that the rattlestick of
the god Xipe was carried, besides him, only by the goddesses of the
earth.[85] Sahagun describes it as a scepter made after the manner
of the calyx of the poppy where the seed is, with something like the
point of a dart fastened in and rising from the upper part.[86] The
resemblance of the cenote specimen to the one shown in the Sahagun
manuscript suggests that it was brought from the Nahuan region.
[Illustration: FIG. 12]
In the sculptured wall of the Temple of the Jaguars at Chichen Itza
are represented a considerable number of warriors and priests dressed
in elaborate costumes and paraphernalia. Several of these persons wear
the typical triangular head-band or crown of the Nahuas, on which
may be distinguished turquois-mosaic decoration (fig. 12). Two of
these priests or warriors have their faces covered with unmistakable
turquois-mosaic masks (figs. 13, 14).[87] This points to Nahuan
influence, and we have other instances of this influence both at
Chichen Itza and at Uxmal. We are thus led to the belief that the
mosaics recovered from the cenote were brought to Chichen Itza from
Nahuan territory.
[Illustration: PL. XXI
SHIELD OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
STATE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, VIENNA]
Another example of a turquois mosaic mask in stone sculpture is
found at the back of the profile face, in front of the ear, of
the human figure carved on the front of stela 11 at Seibal, in the
region of the upper Usumacinta, Department of Peten, Guatemala. It was
photographed by Maler in 1895, and illustrated and described by him
in his monograph, Explorations of the Upper Usumatsintla and Adjacent
Region (_Memoirs of the Peabody Museum, Harvard University_, vol. IV,
no. 1, Cambridge, 1908). Morley has deciphered the date on this stela
as 10.1.0.0.0, corresponding approximately, according to his method of
correlation, to 590 A.D. It appears to have been a hotun-marker, or
stone erected every five years, and is placed in the Great Period of
Mayan civilization.
[Illustration: FIG. 13]
[Illustration: FIG. 14]
MAJOR EXAMPLES
The more important major specimens now remain to be considered. As all
these objects are of wood, with the exception of numbers 3 and 9, we
will not repeat this in our descriptions. They are:
1. Helmet or head-piece
2. Wooden masks
3. Skull masks
4. Shields
5. Ear-plug
6. Animal figures
7. God figure
8. Knife handles
9. Human femur musical instrument.
_Helmet_
The helmet or head-piece on pl. IV is in the British Museum, and was
first described and illustrated in colors in 1895 by Sir Charles
Hercules Read. From his study we take the following notes:[88] The
helmet is hollowed out inside to fit the head and is painted green; the
exterior is carved with two projections, perhaps intended to represent
the upper mandibles of eagles. The space between the inner upper part
of the two beaks and the two outer faces of the beaks bears traces of
red paint. With this exception, the outer surface has been covered with
a mosaic of turquois, malachite, pearl shell, and pink shell, inlaid or
incrusted on a bed of dark-brown gum. A great number of the pieces of
mosaic have fallen out. It contains, fashioned in dark-green malachite
pieces, two involved animal figures, which Read conjectures are
rattlesnakes with crested heads. Judging from the plate accompanying
Read’s study (no measurements are given), the specimen has an extreme
height of 7½ inches and a diameter of 7¼ inches. The illustration which
we reproduce, as well as of the other specimens in London, we owe to
the kindness of T. A. Joyce, Esq., of the British Museum.
_Masks_
The mask on pl. V is in the British Museum, and is one of the best
preserved specimens of mosaic-work from Mexico. It is of cedar, the
outer surface being covered with a mosaic of minute pieces of turquois,
of a brilliant color beneath the eyes and on the forehead, while on
the other parts the color is a poor grayish-green. The face is studded
with irregularly shaped cabochon turquoises. The eyes, nostrils, and
mouth are all pierced; the first are filled with oval pieces of pearl
shell, each with a circular hole for the pupil. The gum surrounding the
shell and keeping it in position is gilded. In the half-open mouth is a
row of seven teeth of white shell set in the upper jaw. On each temple
is set a pierced square of pearl shell. The inside of the mask is
painted red. Its height is 6½ inches, the width 6 inches.
[Illustration: PL. XXII
BACK OF SHIELD SHOWN ON PLATE I
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION, NEW YORK]
On pl. VI is shown another mosaic mask in the British Museum. We follow
Read’s description. It is of cedar, and the lower left-hand part
of the face is missing. Over the face are represented two entwined
serpents curving around the eyes and mouth, and the rattle-tipped
tails rest over the right and left of the forehead. The whole of the
surface of the mask is covered with a mosaic of turquois, bright-blue
and dull-green in color, arranged in such manner that the two snakes
are distinct in color. The rattle of each snake upon the temples are
modeled of the same gum as that in which the stones are embedded, and
it seems possible that they were formerly gilded. The mouth of the
mask is slightly open and contains teeth of white shell in the upper
jaw. There is a slit over each eye and a hole in each temple. The
inside of the mask is painted red. Height 6.9 inches, width 6.6 inches.
Read believes that the heads of the two snakes were on the lower
checks, which are incomplete. Maudslay identifies this mask with that
described by Sahagun in the chapter which we have translated (see p.
14), relating to the objects pertaining to the god Quetzalcoatl which
were presented by Montezuma to Cortés.[89] In this description only
one serpent is mentioned, and Sahagun states that “the head with part
of the body came over one eye so that it formed an eyebrow, and the
tail with a part of the body went over the other eye to form the other
eyebrow.” In the plate the two rattles are clearly seen, and Holmes
has published a diagrammatic drawing differentiating the bodies of the
serpents. If Sahagun’s description is accurate, this specimen cannot be
the one mentioned by him. It is, however, one of the most interesting
pieces of mosaic that has survived.
The very interesting mask of wood shown on pl. VII is in the
Prehistoric and Ethnographic Museum in Rome. It is one of the best
preserved pieces in Europe, and its history is known as far back as
1553. It was purchased for the Museum by Giglioli from Cosimo de Medici
for two and a half francs. It was first illustrated in colors by
Pigorini,[90] and our illustration is from a photograph just received
from Rome through the kindness of Dr. S. K. Lothrop. The specimen is
11 inches high and 5⅜ inches broad, being the tallest mosaic mask that
has thus far come to light. It represents a human face placed in what
appears to be the flat open jaws of a snake or an animal, a common
motive in Middle American art. The back of the mask is flat, and there
are ovate openings for the eyes. From the nose hangs an ornament of a
type familiar in central Mexico. Over the forehead appear what seem to
be raised twined bodies of serpents, and from the left of the upper
part of the face projects the plumed head of a serpent. We are unable
to say if the head of the other snake once projected from the opposite
side of the mask, but it seems impossible that the artist would have
made this elaborate piece so symmetrical. From Dr. Lothrop’s notes
it appears that the turquois around the sides is of a slightly faded
color, but the major portion is brilliant and glistening. The materials
used are turquois, pink shell, white shell, mother-of-pearl, jadeite
(for the facial lumps), and a dull-black stone. This remarkable piece
is a veritable work of art, and from the serpent motive we would class
it as a Quetzalcoatl mask.
[Illustration: PL. XXIII
SHIELD OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION, NEW YORK]
The other mask in Rome (pl. VIII) was illustrated as early as 1648.
This illustration, and the one published by Pigorini (fig. 15), are
front views. Our plate, from a photograph taken for Dr. Lothrop, is a
sideview presenting interesting features which are not revealed in the
illustrations hitherto published. The materials employed are turquois,
malachite, pink shell, white shell, mother-of-pearl, an unidentifiable
black stone, and garnet. The edges of the orbits and the protruding
tongue are painted red, while the fangs are painted white. On the side
of the face, below the right eye, is the head of an alligator, in the
neck of which is set a garnet. Attention is called also to the peculiar
nose and the curling tongue. A considerable portion of the mosaic is
lost. This mask is larger than the masks in London and New York, being
8⅝ inches high, with an extreme length, including the protruding
tongue, of 11 inches. Dr. Lothrop writes that in his description
Pigorini has done scant justice to this remarkable piece.
On pls. IX to XVI are illustrated the series of masks from the cave
recently discovered in Mexico, which are in the Museum of the American
Indian, Heye Foundation. They fall into two classes, those on pls. IX
to XII being ornamented with turquois mosaic, and so nearly alike in
workmanship that they might well be the product of one artist, while
the masks on pls. XIII to XV are different in character, the mosaic
pieces being larger and coarser, and considerable stone other than
turquois was employed in the decoration. They are all in a damaged
condition and lack the chin. All the mosaic incrustations are set in a
bed of gum.
[Illustration: FIG. 15]
The best-preserved specimen is illustrated in colors on pl. IX; it is
7½ inches high, and 6¾ inches wide. Bands of light and dark turquois
will be observed on the forehead and temples. Around the lower margin
of the face is a band of blackish to dark-brown stones. On the sides of
the mask are two large black discs made of a composition resembling
charcoal and sticky clay. This substance is present in a number of the
other masks, and we venture the conjecture that it may be the material
used by the goldsmiths in modeling figures to be cast in gold. Sahagun
describes it as follows:
The master gives them the charcoal, which they grind very fine.
And when it is ground they add a little clay, the glutinous earth
which they use in their pottery. They mix the charcoal with the clay
and stir it, and knead it in such manner that the two substances
constitute one solid mass. And when they have the mass prepared, they
shape it into thin discs which they expose to the sun.... For two
days these objects dry, and become very hard. When the charcoal is
well dried and very hard, it is cut, then carved by means of a little
scraper of copper.[91]
The tip of the nose, as well as the chin, is gone. There are traces
of red paint over the mouth and in the circular spaces on each side
of the nose. When the specimen was received, the missing section of
the lower part of the face was covered with a band of tin, as in
the mask (pl. XVI) from which the mosaic has disappeared. From this
circumstance we believe that the objects in this cave deposit were used
by the Indians after the Spanish conquest, possibly until comparatively
recent times. Our reasons for this belief will be found in the chapter
translated from Motolinia in our conclusion. If we assume that at
certain intervals during centuries the Indians resorted to the cave to
worship in secret their ancient gods, we can explain the worn condition
of nearly all of these specimens. Undoubtedly they were preserved and
treasured for many generations, revered as precious relics of a lost
but not entirely forgotten civilization. There is not the slightest
reason for doubting their origin in pre-Spanish times.
[Illustration: PL. XXIV
SHIELD OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION, NEW YORK]
The mask on pl. X is 6½ inches high and 6¼ inches wide. It is quite
similar to the one last described, but lacks the encircling lower
marginal band. The outer zone is of light turquois, with zones of a
darker shade toward the center. There are traces of red paint above the
mouth and in the spaces on each side of the nose. On the left temple
are the remains of a black disc of the same material as on the other
mask.
The right section of the mask on pl. XI is 7¼ inches in height. The
turquois incrustation is light-blue in color. There are traces of red
paint above the mouth. The black composition inlay on the temple is
square, and contains a biconical depression which does not pass through
the wood. Around the eye is a raised design, possibly a serpent’s body.
The entire lower zone is at present without decoration, and possibly
was never covered with mosaic.
The mask fragment on pl. XII is 7⅜ inches high. The small section of
mosaic remaining on the forehead is dark-blue, while that on the rest
of the face is light-blue. There is a black composition disc on the
temple, and traces of red paint above the mouth. The marking on the
plain surface on the forehead appears to be ancient.
We now come to the other group. On pl. XIII is a mask 6⅜ inches high
and 5¾ inches wide. A portion of the chin still remains, with mosaic
decoration, indicating that the missing chins in the other masks were
probably thus embellished. In general appearance this specimen differs
widely from those just described. The pieces used in the mosaic are
rougher in shape and larger. A few bits of bright-green turquois are
found on the forehead, but the rest of the incrustation is a stone of a
brownish- or grayish-green color. The distinctive feature is the band
which encircles the forehead, running downward and ending at the sides
of the nose. It is of black composition, but is highly polished, and
there are pieces of light-brown color. Traces of red paint appear above
the mouth.
The mask on pl. XIV is 6¾ inches high and 5¼ inches wide. It lacks the
chin, but still retains a goodly part of the mosaic. This specimen is
somewhat different in treatment from the others, closely resembling
in technique the mask fragment which follows on pl. XV. The mass of
incrustation is outlined by a band of single light brownish-gray
stones. The forehead has a mosaic of blackish and dark-green stones,
the same effect being seen on each side of the plain space at the
sides of the nose, merging into lighter zones on the cheeks. Red paint
is above the mouth and on the spaces at the side of and below the nose.
This mask had a tin band or plate over the missing chin. The space
above the eyes is coated black, the material being probably obtained by
thinning the black composition into a coarse paint by the addition of
melted gum or wax. Two black composition discs are on the temples.
The fragment of mask on pl. XV is 5⅝ inches high. As before stated, it
resembles the mask just described. The mosaic, of large bits of stone,
is outlined by a line of single lighter stones. The forehead contains
a mosaic of greenish stones, and the space above the ridge of the nose
has a patch of light-red shell bits. The space on each side of the nose
and in the mouth is painted red, while that above the eyes is painted
jet black. A black composition disc is on the temple.
The mask without mosaic on pl. XVI is 6⅞ inches high and 5¼ inches
wide. The wood is of a light color, and rather soft. We have left on
this specimen the tin plate which replaces the missing chin. That
this mask was once covered with mosaic decoration may be seen in the
fragment remaining at the right side of the mouth. The eyes in this
specimen are semi-lenticular in shape, differing from the others which
are either ovate or lenticular in outline.
This closes our description of the specimens found in the deposit in
the cave in the Mixteca. With them were found some fragments of native
paper made of _amate_ fiber, two of which enclosed regularly shaped
small masses of gum incense. In one of these several pieces of the
gum were held together by an interlaced string of flexible bark. They
provide further proof that the cave was resorted to for religious
ceremonies or sacrifices.
[Illustration: PL. XXV
SHIELD OF WOOD (FRAGMENT) WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION, NEW YORK]