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Title: Turquois mosaic art in ancient Mexico
Author: Saville, Marshall H. (Marshall Howard)
Language: English
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ANCIENT MEXICO ***
CONTRIBUTIONS
FROM THE
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN
HEYE FOUNDATION
VOLUME VI
TURQUOIS MOSAIC ART
IN ANCIENT MEXICO
[Illustration: PL. I
SHIELD OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION, NEW YORK]
TURQUOIS MOSAIC ART
IN ANCIENT MEXICO
BY
MARSHALL H. SAVILLE
[Illustration]
NEW YORK
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN
HEYE FOUNDATION
1922
CONDÉ NAST PRESS GREENWICH, CONN.
TO
GEORGE GUSTAV HEYE
_In appreciation of his long-continued interest in all
that pertains to the study of the aboriginal race of
America, which has reached fruition in the opening of the_
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN
HEYE FOUNDATION
_this volume is dedicated by the author and the
staff of the Museum_
PREFACE
The writer has undertaken the present study of Mexican Turquois Mosaics
in honor of the approaching opening to the public of the Museum of
the American Indian, Heye Foundation, the only institution devoted
exclusively to the study of the aboriginal American peoples ever
established; and the proximate International Congress of Americanists
to be held at Rio de Janeiro this summer. Owing to lack of time it has
been impossible to obtain new photographic illustrations of all the
specimens of mosaic-work in European museums, but the author desires to
express his thanks to T. A. Joyce, Esq., for his courtesy in furnishing
photographs of the examples in the British Museum. To Dr. Franz
Heger, of the State Natural History Museum, Vienna, we are under deep
obligations for photographs and description of the interesting Xolotl
figure preserved in that Museum. Dr. S. K. Lothrop has kindly had
photographs made of the objects of this class in the Prehistoric and
Ethnographic Museum in Rome, and has made certain valuable observations
concerning them. To Drs. A. M. Tozzer and H. J. Spinden special
acknowledgment is due for their generous permission to illustrate the
mosaics from Chichen Itza, thus anticipating their own description of
the objects in the work now being prepared regarding one of the most
important discoveries ever made in ancient America. The fine drawings
are from the pen of William Baake, and the beautiful plates represent
the best efforts of the Heliotype Company. Finally must be acknowledged
the characteristic generosity of one of the trustees of the Museum,
James B. Ford, Esq., who has made it possible for us to publish this
paper, and to whom the Museum is indebted for its acquisition of the
precious collection of Mexican mosaics which are now described for the
first time.
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE ix
INTRODUCTION 1
EARLIEST HISTORICAL ACCOUNTS OF TURQUOIS MOSAIC
IN MEXICO 3
The Grijalva Expedition, 1518 3
Loot obtained by Cortés, 1519-1525 8
TRIBUTE OF MOSAIC PAID TO THE AZTEC RULERS 22
SOURCE OF TURQUOIS 27
THE AZTEC LAPIDARIES AND THEIR WORK 29
OBJECTS DECORATED WITH MOSAIC 40
EXISTING SPECIMENS OF MOSAIC 47
Minor Examples 48
Chichen Itza Specimens 55
Major Examples 59
Helmet 60
Masks 60
Skull Masks 67
Shields 68
Ear-plug 79
Animal Figures 80
God Figure 82
Knife Handles 82
Human Femur Musical Instrument 84
CONCLUSION 86
NOTES 92
LIST OF WORKS DESCRIBING MEXICAN MOSAICS 103
ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATES
PAGE
I. Wooden shield with turquois mosaic decoration
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation,
New York _Frontispiece_
II. Stone idol with mosaic decoration National Museum,
Mexico 22
III. _a_, Wooden staff with turquois mosaic decoration,
from Sacred cenote, ruins of Chichen Itza,
Yucatan Peabody Museum, Cambridge
_b_, Wooden rattle with turquois mosaic decoration,
from Sacred cenote, ruins of Chichen Itza, Yucatan
Peabody Museum, Cambridge 22
IV. Wooden helmet with mosaic decoration British
Museum, London 24
V. Wooden mask with turquois mosaic decoration
British Museum, London 26
VI. Wooden mask with turquois mosaic decoration
British Museum, London 28
VII. Wooden mask with turquois mosaic decoration
Prehistoric and Ethnographic Museum, Rome 30
VIII. Wooden mask with turquois mosaic decoration
Prehistoric and Ethnographic Museum, Rome 32
IX. Wooden mask with turquois mosaic decoration
Museum of the American Indian, Heye
Foundation, New York 34
X. Wooden mask with turquois mosaic decoration
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation,
New York 36
XI. Wooden mask (fragment) with turquois mosaic
decoration Museum of the American Indian,
Heye Foundation, New York 38
XII. Wooden mask (fragment) with turquois mosaic
decoration Museum of the American Indian,
Heye Foundation, New York 40
XIII. Wooden mask with mosaic decoration Museum
of the American Indian, Heye Foundation,
New York 42
XIV. Wooden mask with mosaic decoration Museum
of the American Indian, Heye Foundation,
New York 44
XV. Wooden mask (fragment) with mosaic decoration
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation,
New York 46
XVI. Wooden mask formerly covered with mosaic decoration
Museum of the American Indian,
Heye Foundation, New York 48
XVII. Wooden mask with turquois mosaic decoration,
from Honduras Museum of the American
Indian, Heye Foundation, New York 50
XVIII. Skull mask with mosaic decoration Ethnographical
Museum, Berlin 52
XIX. Skull mask with mosaic decoration British Museum,
London 54
XX. Wooden shield with turquois mosaic decoration
British Museum, London 56
XXI. Wooden shield with turquois mosaic decoration
State Natural History Museum, Vienna 58
XXII. Back of wooden shield illustrated in Pl. I. Museum
of the American Indian, Heye Foundation,
New York 60
XXIII. Wooden shield with mosaic decoration. Museum
of the American Indian, Heye Foundation,
New York 62
XXIV. Wooden shield with mosaic decoration. Museum
of the American Indian, Heye Foundation,
New York 64
XXV. Wooden shield (fragment) with mosaic decoration.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye
Foundation, New York 66
XXVI. Wooden shield (fragment) with mosaic decoration.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye
Foundation, New York 68
XXVII. Wooden shield (fragment) with mosaic decoration.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye
Foundation, New York 70
XXVIII. Wooden shield (fragment) with mosaic decoration.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye
Foundation, New York 72
XXIX. Wooden shield (fragment) with mosaic decoration.
Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation,
New York 74
XXX. Wooden ear-plug with mosaic decoration. Museum
of the American Indian, Heye Foundation,
New York 76
XXXI. Wooden head with head-piece, with mosaic decoration.
National Museum, Copenhagen 78
XXXII. _a_, Wooden jaguar head with mosaic decoration.
Ethnographical Museum, Berlin
_b_, Wooden head of animal and human face in
jaws with mosaic decoration. National Museum,
Copenhagen 78
XXXIII. _a_, Wooden head of animal with mosaic decoration.
State Natural History Museum, Vienna
_b_, Wooden head of monkey with mosaic decoration.
British Museum, London 78
XXXIV. _a_, Wooden two-headed jaguar figure with mosaic
decoration. Ethnographical Museum, Berlin
_b_, Wooden bird’s head with mosaic decoration.
Museum, Gotha 78
XXXV. Wooden animal figure on haunches with mosaic
decoration. British Museum, London 78
XXXVI. Wooden double-headed snake figure with mosaic
decoration. British Museum, London 80
XXXVII. Wooden figure of Xolotl god with mosaic decoration.
State Natural History Museum, Vienna 80
XXXVIII. Flint knife with wooden handle with mosaic decoration.
British Museum, London 82
XXXIX. _a_, Wooden knife handle with mosaic decoration.
Prehistoric and Ethnographic Museum, Rome
_b_, Wooden knife handle with mosaic decoration.
Prehistoric and Ethnographic Museum, Rome 82
XL. Human femur musical instrument with mosaic
decoration. Prehistoric and Ethnographic
Museum, Rome 84
TEXT FIGURES
1. Bowl filled with turquois. After Tribute Roll of Montezuma 24
2. Ten masks of turquois. After Tribute Roll of Montezuma 24
3. Small bag filled with turquois. After Tribute Roll of
Montezuma 25
4. Shields with turquois mosaic decoration. After Tribute
Roll of Montezuma 25
5. Serpent scepter with turquois mosaic decoration. After
Sahagun, manuscript of the Real Palacio, Madrid 43
6. _a_, Gold crown with turquois mosaic decoration. After
Sahagun, manuscript of the Real Palacio, Madrid
_b_, Gold crown. After Tribute Roll of Montezuma 45
7. Pottery disc with hematite mosaic decoration, from
Cuilapa, Oaxaca. American Museum of Natural History,
New York 51
8. Gold shield breast ornament with turquois mosaic decoration,
from Yanhuitlan, Oaxaca. National Museum,
Mexico 52
9. Wooden object (fragment) with turquois mosaic decoration,
from Sacred cenote, ruins of Chichen Itza, Yucatan.
Peabody Museum, Cambridge 57
10. Wooden object (fragment) with turquois mosaic decoration,
from Sacred cenote, ruins of Chichen Itza,
Yucatan. Peabody Museum, Cambridge 57
11. Rattle of the god Xipe Totec. After Sahagun, manuscript
of the Real Palacio, Madrid 58
12. _a_, _b_, _c_, Crowns with mosaic decoration, from sculptured
wall, Temple of the Jaguars, ruins of Chichen
Itza, Yucatan. After Maudslay 58
13. Mask with mosaic decoration, from sculptured wall,
Temple of the Jaguars, ruins of Chichen Itza, Yucatan.
After Maudslay 59
14. Mask with mosaic decoration, from sculptured wall,
Temple of the Jaguars, ruins of Chichen Itza, Yucatan.
After Maudslay 59
15. Mask of wood with turquois mosaic decoration. Prehistoric
and Ethnographic Museum, Rome. After
Pigorini 63
16. God Paynal with shield decorated with turquois mosaic.
After Sahagun, manuscript of the Real Palacio, Madrid 70
17. God Paynal with shield decorated with turquois mosaic.
After Sahagun, Florentine manuscript 70
18. Glyphs of the town of Culhuacan. After Codex Telleriano
Remensis 74
19. Knife handle of wood with turquois mosaic decoration.
Prehistoric and Ethnographic Museum, Rome. After
Pigorini 83
TURQUOIS MOSAIC ART IN ANCIENT MEXICO
BY MARSHALL H. SAVILLE
INTRODUCTION
One of the tragedies of the discovery of the New World was the abrupt
and summary blotting out of the flourishing and still advancing
civilization of the Aztec and other Mexican tribes. Had their complete
conquest and subjection been delayed a few decades they in all
probability would have developed a written phonetic language. Their
intellectual abilities are evidenced by a study of the intricate
calendar system, and the picture and hieroglyphic records which
survive. The triumphs of their architectural attainments are well
known, and may be investigated in the numerous monuments and buildings
in the ruined cities scattered throughout Mexico. They had made notable
strides toward civilization in certain of the minor fine arts. Ignorant
of glass and of glazed pottery, they nevertheless developed the
ceramic art to a high degree of excellence. Their inventive genius and
technical skill were manifest in their goldsmith’s art.[1]
Without the knowledge of iron, in the working of hard precious
and semi-precious stones into idols and personal ornaments, their
craftsmanship was equal to that of the best lapidaries of Europe at
the beginning of the sixteenth century. In the lapidarian art they had
advanced so far as to fashion and adorn many objects with designs, both
geometric and realistic, in stone mosaic, employing turquois chiefly
for this purpose, but also making use of other stones--marcasite and
shell. But the supreme esthetic achievement of the Aztecs was the
production of a class of mosaics in which they used tiny bits of
colored feathers instead of stones in making the designs. This unique
art was employed in adorning objects for personal use, for warfare, or
for priestly ceremonies. The patterns were produced by applying the
tiny bits of feathers with glue either directly on wood or on wooden
objects covered with skin or with native paper. From descriptions of
feather mosaics in the writings of early chroniclers, and from a study
of the handful of specimens which have escaped the ravages of time, it
is evident that this art reached the highest artistic level attained by
any of the aboriginal tribes of America.
We will not enter into a discussion of feather mosaics at this time,
but will consider primarily the parallel art of turquois mosaic. Aside
from the numerous historical notices contained in the early chronicles
and in the inventories of the loot of the Aztecs sent to Europe by
Cortés, there is little of this art upon which to base a careful
study that has survived. It is one of the most interesting and highly
developed arts of ancient America, but it was practised by only a
few tribes. Apart from the Mexican region where turquois mosaic was
most highly developed, excellent examples have been found with other
ancient remains of the Pueblos of Arizona and New Mexico, and incrusted
objects have also been found with ancient burials on the coast of
Peru, indicating a somewhat similar technique though far less skill in
application. The materials usually employed in Mexico were turquois,
jadeite, malachite, quartz, beryl, garnet, obsidian, marcasite, gold,
bits of red and other colored shell, and nacre. The base upon which
the incrustation was laid was wood, stone, gold, shell, pottery, and
possibly leather and native paper, the mosaic being held in place by
means of a tenacious vegetal pitch or gum, or a kind of cement.
EARLIEST HISTORICAL ACCOUNTS OF TURQUOIS MOSAIC IN MEXICO
THE GRIJALVA EXPEDITION, 1518
The first knowledge received by Europeans of the existence of turquois
mosaic objects among the Mexicans was by members of the expedition sent
out from Cuba by the governor, Diego Velásquez, during the spring of
1518, under the command of Juan de Grijalva. After reaching the shores
of Yucatan near the island of Cozumel, the party coasted the Yucatan
peninsula, reaching the territory of the present State of Campeche,
which had been discovered the previous year by Francisco Hernández de
Córdoba. Proceeding westward along unknown lands, they reached a great
river in the State of Tabasco, to which the name of the commandant was
given, and it is still known as Rio de Grijalva. Here, according to
some accounts, the expedition obtained the first specimens of turquois
mosaic. We shall consider this point later. Leaving the Rio de Grijalva
they went westward and arrived at the site of the present city of Vera
Cruz, where they obtained by barter with the Indians a considerable
treasure, including some objects of turquois mosaic, which Grijalva
decided to send immediately to the governor in Cuba with a report of
his discoveries up to that time. Consequently, on June 24, 1518, one of
Grijalva’s captains, Pedro de Alvarado, set out on the return voyage to
Fernandina (Cuba), while Grijalva himself continued the exploration of
the eastern coast of Mexico.
The provenience of the treasure obtained by Grijalva on this first
expedition of discovery to the coasts of Tabasco and Vera Cruz in 1518
is not at all clear from the accounts of this voyage in the writings
both of the eye-witnesses themselves and of those who shortly afterward
wrote of the conquest from the reports of the participants in the
events. It has been generally assumed that Grijalva obtained mosaic
objects from the Indians of Tabasco; this is specifically stated
by both Oviedo and Gomara, who recorded detailed accounts of the
Grijalva expedition. The account by Oviedo[2] is even more extended
and valuable than the narrations of the eye-witnesses, namely, Juan
Díaz[3] the chaplain, and the redoubtable Bernal Díaz. Oviedo states
that his account is from the report forwarded to the King of Spain by
the governor Velásquez, who sent out the expedition from Cuba. Gomara,
who for a time was chaplain of Cortés in Spain, never visited the New
World, but had access to the various reports sent to Spain regarding
the conquest.
Unfortunately in the writings of the eye-witnesses no detailed
descriptive lists are to be found relating just what pieces of
mosaic-work were obtained by Grijalva from the Mayan Indians of Tabasco
and the people of the coast of the present State of Vera Cruz. The
extended account given by Oviedo recites the voyage from day to day and
the character of various objects received from the Tabasco Indians,
followed by the list of specimens obtained from the Mexican Indians
near the Isla de Sacrificios, Vera Cruz. We will quote from these
lists later. Gomara’s list is quite extended. In the first part of
his _Historia de las Indias_ he describes various articles procured
by Grijalva from the Indians at the mouth of the river in Tabasco,
to which his name was applied, followed in turn by the inventory of
objects obtained at San Juan de Ulua, Vera Cruz. In the second part of
his history, the _Conquista de Mexico_, he gives only a single long
inventory of the barter obtained, as he says, “from the Indians of
Potonchan [Tabasco], San Juan de Ulua, and other places of that coast.”
It seems highly probable, however, that such interesting and valuable
loot must have been accompanied with an inventory when it was sent
to Spain late in 1518 or early in 1519 by Governor Velásquez. Oviedo
mentions seeing the things, apparently in Barcelona, in May 1519. It
is possible that both Oviedo and Gomara may have had access to such an
inventory, or if not, they wrote their own descriptions of the objects
after seeing them.
Bernal Díaz, who accompanied both Grijalva and Cortés to Mexico,
wrote his history nearly fifty years after the stirring events of the
discovery and conquest. He was a prejudiced writer, and seems to have
been largely animated in his old age to tell the story of the conquest
primarily to refute many of the statements of Gomara. Bernal Díaz
writes bluntly at the very outset of his invaluable history, which he
calls the “True History,” that he speaks “here in reply to all that
has been said and written by persons who themselves knowing nothing,
have received no true account from others of what really took place,
but who nevertheless now put forward any statements that happen to suit
their fancy.” While not describing the treasure obtained by Grijalva,
he mentions “some gold jewels some (of which) were diadems and others
were in the shape of ducks like those of Castile, and other jewels like
lizards, and three necklaces of hollow beads, and other articles of
gold not of much value, for they were not worth more than two hundred
pesos.”[4] These he states were obtained from the Indians of Potonchan.
For some reason he apparently was not greatly impressed either by the
technical excellence or by the esthetic beauty of the objects procured
by barter from the vicinity of the present city of Vera Cruz; he simply
writes that the Spaniards were engaged for six days in trading with the
Indians and got more than sixteen thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry of
low-grade gold worked into various forms. He then says: “This must be
the gold which the historians Gomara, Yllescas, and Jovio say was given
by the natives of Tabasco, and they have written it down as though it
were true, although it is well known to eye-witnesses that there is no
gold in the province of the Rio de Grijalva or anywhere near it, and
very few jewels.”[5] Torquemada wrote in later years to the same effect.
In none of the accounts by the participants of this expedition are
mosaic pieces specifically mentioned. The chaplain of Grijalva’s
fleet, Juan Díaz, states merely that they were given “a mask of gold
beautifully wrought, and a little figure of a man with a little mask of
gold, and a crown of gold beads with other jewels and stone of various
colors.” This report was first printed in Venice, March 3, 1520,
appearing in Italian as an appendix to the _Itinerario_ of Ludovico de
Varthema.
An anonymous independent relation in Italian of this voyage seems to
have been printed at Venice in the same year under the title _Littera
Mãdata della Insula de Cuba_, etc., the copy in the Marciana Library,
Venice, being the only one known. From a photostat copy of the Italian
we are able to present a translation of the mention of these objects,
somewhat similar to that given by Juan Díaz. The _Littera Mãdata_
states that the Spaniards obtained “a mask of gold, and the figure of a
man all of gold, seemingly of the age of twelve, and a fan of gold, and
other jewels of divers colors.”[6]
Another anonymous early printed report, in Latin, without date or place
of printing, affords practically the same information as that contained
in the _Itinerario_ of Juan Díaz and in the _Littera Mãdata_.[7]
The earliest printed information regarding the Grijalva voyage in which
mosaic objects are specifically noted is in Peter Martyr’s _De Nvper
Sub D. Carolo Repertis Insulis_, printed in Basle in 1521. In speaking
of the valuable objects obtained by Grijalva in Coluacan (Vera Cruz),
and sent to Spain, he mentions that “the cacique brought a small golden
statue of a man, also a gold fan, and a mask beautifully wrought and
decorated with stones.”[8] It will be observed that these objects
correspond with those mentioned in the reports noted above, only that
Peter Martyr speaks of the decoration of the mask with stones. With the
exception of this note by Peter Martyr, who saw the objects in Spain,
there is, as we have said, no special statement regarding mosaic-work
to be found in the earliest known printed accounts of the Grijalva
voyage. In 1535 the great work of Oviedo was first published, and here
we find the following itemized description of pieces of mosaic-work,
said to have been obtained from the Indians of Potonchan, Tabasco.[9]
Another mask covered from the nostrils upward with well set
mosaic-work of stones resembling turquoises, and from the nostrils
downward with a thin plate of hammered gold.
Another mask resembling the first, but the stones were placed from the
eyes upward, and below them there were thin plates of beaten gold over
wood, the ears being of turquois mosaic-work.
Another mask made with bands or rods of wood, two of the strips being
covered with mosaic-work, and the remaining other three with thin
beaten gold.
A thin disc with a figure of a cemi or devil, covered above with
beaten gold-leaf, and in other parts were scattered some stones.
A tablet of wood like the headstall of a horse in armor, covered over
with thin gold-leaf, with some strips of black stones well set between
the gold.
The head of a dog covered with stones, and very well made.
From Ulua in Vera Cruz these mosaic pieces are noted:
Two masks of small stones like turquois set over wood like mosaic,
with some spangles of gold in the ears.
Two guariques of blue stones set in gold, each having eight pendants
of the same.
A mask of stone mosaic-work.
In the work of Gomara, printed in 1553, appears also an extended
account of this barter.[10]
Seler[11] and Lehmann[12] believe that most of the mosaic objects
“apparently came from the eastern provinces, i.e., Tabasco.”
Relying on the authority of both Oviedo and Gomara, Lehmann further
uses in his discussion the original Nahuatl text of Sahagun in
the Florentine manuscript copied and translated by Seler. In this
section of Sahagun’s work relating to the attributes of the Mexican
deities occurs the paragraph, “_In jtlatquj Quetzalcoatl coa-xaiacatl
xiuhticatl achivalli, quetzalapanecaiotl_,” which Lehmann renders, “The
Quetzalcoatl dress, the snake-mask with turquois work, the feather
ornament of the people of Quetzalapan (Tabasco).”[13] But there
is no mention in early chronicles or on early maps of any town _in
this region_ bearing the name Quetzalapan, and Torquemada in giving
an account of some of the wars of Montezuma writes that “during the
twelfth year of his reign (which was in 1514), his armies set out for
the land of the Chichimecas, and entered the Huaxteca, subduing those
of Quetzalapan.”[14] Other places bearing the name Quetzalapan were in
the present states of Morelos, Guerrero, and Colima.[15] In recounting
the episode of the conquest of this town, Clavijero writes explicitly
that “Montezuma sent out an army in 1512 to the north against the
Quetzalapanecas and conquered them with but little loss.”[16] Hence
the place mentioned by Sahagun would seem to have been in Vera Cruz,
and probably the region of Huaxteca or Cuexteca, for the Aztecs had
considerable communication with this territory.
LOOT OBTAINED BY CORTÉS, 1519-1525
But the treasures of native art secured by the Grijalva expedition were
insignificant by comparison with the enormously valuable loot obtained
the next year (1519) by Cortés. It is not necessary in this study of
Mexican mosaics to enter into the details of the expedition which set
out from Cuba to follow the discoveries of Grijalva and which resulted
in the conquest of Mexico. This has been done many times, but in the
main most weight is given to the writings of the Spanish participants
and to the early chroniclers. We have already studied in considerable
detail the accounts of the art objects sent to Spain by Cortés, as
contained in these early writings, and especially the inventories which
accompanied the shipments of objects sent to Europe by the conqueror.
Let us quote here merely what we wrote in presenting a summary of the
events that occurred when Cortés first landed on the coast of Vera Cruz.
After the arrival of the Spaniards on the coast of Vera Cruz, the
Indians were not long in ignorance of the consuming thirst of the
conquerors for gold. In order to placate the formidable strangers
with childlike confidence that by giving them their wish the invasion
of his dominions would be averted, Montezuma sent rich presents to
Cortés through Tendile (Teuhtlile), governor of Cuetlaxtla (the
modern Cotastla), which was then subject to the Aztecs. When all this
treasure thus brought together was ready to be sent to Spain, with the
report of the voyage, an inventory or list of the objects was drawn
up and despatched with two special messengers, Alonso Portocarrero
and Francisco de Montejo, who were charged to deliver the treasure to
the King. These valuable gifts have been briefly described by several
members of the expedition who saw them before they left Mexico,
and on their receipt in Spain they were described by various other
chroniclers.
From the inventory, which we translated, we select the items relating
to objects ornamented with stone mosaic.
Item: two collars of gold and stone mosaic-work (precious stones)....
Another item: a box of a large piece of feather-work lined with
leather, the colors seeming like martens, and fastened and placed in
the said piece, and in the center (is) a large disc of gold, which
weighed sixty ounces of gold, and a piece of blue stone mosaic-work a
little reddish, and at the end of the piece another piece of colored
feather-work that hangs from it.
Item: a miter of blue stone mosaic-work with the figure of monsters in
the center of it, and lined with leather which seems in its colors to
be that of martens, with a small (piece) of feather-work which is, as
the one mentioned above, of this said miter.
Item: ... a scepter of stone mosaic-work with two rings of gold, and
the rest of feather-work.
Item: an armlet of stone mosaic-work....
Item: a mirror placed in a piece of blue and red stone mosaic-work,
with feather-work stuck to it, and two strips of leather stuck to
it....
Item: some leggings of blue stone mosaic-work, lined with leather, of
which the colors seem like martens; on each one of them (there are)
fifteen gold bells.
Item: two colored (pieces of) feather-work which are for two (pieces
of) head armor of stone mosaic-work....
More: two guariques (ear ornaments) of blue stone mosaic-work, which
are to be put in the head of the big crocodile.
More: another head armor of blue stone mosaic-work with twenty gold
bells which hang pendent at the border, with two strings of beads
which are above each bell, and two guariques of wood with two plates
of gold.
Item: another head armor of blue stone mosaic-work with twenty-five
gold bells, and two beads of gold above each bell, that hang around it
with some guariques of wood with plates of gold, and a bird of green
plumage with the feet, beak, and eyes of gold.
Moreover: sixteen shields of stone mosaic-work with their colored
feather-work hanging from the edge of them, and wide-angled slab with
stone mosaic-work with its colored feather-work, and in the center of
the said slab, made of stone mosaic-work, a cross of a wheel which is
lined with leather, which has the color of martens.
Again: a scepter of red stone mosaic-work, made like a snake, with its
head, teeth, and eyes (made) from what appears to be mother-of-pearl,
and the hilt is adorned with the skin of a spotted animal, and below
the said hilt hang six pieces of small feather-work.
Item: a piece of colored feather-work which the lords of this land
are wont to put on their heads, and from it hang two ear-ornaments of
stone mosaic-work with two bells and two beads of gold, and above a
feather-work of wide green feathers, and below hang some white, long
hairs.[17]
Peter Martyr, who saw the specimens in Spain shortly after they
arrived, speaks of “certain miters beset with precious stones of divers
colors, among which some are blue, like unto sapphires.” Also “two
helmets garnished with precious stones of a whitish blue color: one of
these is edged with bells and plates of gold, and under every bell two
knobs of gold. The other, beside the stones wherewith it is covered, is
likewise edged with XXV golden bells and knobs: and hath on the crest,
a green bird with the feet, bill, and eyes of gold.”[18]
Las Casas describes “a helmet of plates of gold, and little bells
hanging (from it), and on it stones like emeralds.” Also “many shields
made of certain thin and very white rods, intermingled with feathers
and discs of gold and silver, and some very small pearls, like
misshapen pearls.”[19]
These are some of the statements of early Spaniards. Let us now
consider what the Indians have said about the treasure given by
Montezuma to Cortés at that time. Our best source of information is
the great _Historia_ composed by Fray Bernardino de Sahagun, who spent
many years in the valley of Mexico gathering information at first-hand
from intelligent Indians. This was shortly after the conquest when
the natives still retained vivid recollections of the fall of their
country. Without this work the history of ancient Mexico, and of the
customs and traditions of the Indians, could not be written.
We must not lose sight of the fact that Montezuma, for a number of
reasons which we need not relate here, expected the “second coming” of
the culture-hero Quetzalcoatl, the great beneficent god of the Aztecs.
This myth was one of the several causes that led to the comparatively
easy conquest of a numerous and warlike people by the Spaniards. We
have translated several chapters of Sahagun’s _Historia_ relating
to the first coming of the Christians to the coast of Mexico, which
contain a description of some of the gifts sent by Montezuma to Cortés,
while he still believed the Spanish conqueror to be the great god
Quetzalcoatl. It is really a report transmitted to us from the Aztecs,
and is a most fascinating chapter of the history of the conquest of
Mexico.[20]
CHAPTER II. _Of the first (Spanish) ships which arrived at this land
said to have been those of Juan de Grijalva._
The first time that ships appeared on the coast of New Spain, the
captains of Montezuma, who were called calpixques, who were near the
coast, at once went to see what it was that had come, never having
seen ships; one of whom was the calpixque of Cuextecatl, named Pinotl:
other calpixques went with him, one of whom, named Yaotzin, lived in
the town of Mictlanquauhtla, another named Teozinzocatl resided in the
town of Teociniocan, another named Cuitlalpitoc was not a calpixque
but the servant of one of these calpixques, and principalejos, and
another principalejo named Tentlil. These went to see what the thing
was, and carried some things to sell under pretence, so as to see what
the thing was: they carried some rich mantles which only Montezuma,
and no other (person), wore, nor had permission to wear: they entered
canoes and went to the ships, saying amongst themselves, “We are here
to guard this coast; it is right that we should know for a certainty
what this is, in order to carry accurate news to Montezuma.” They
entered at once the canoes and commenced to paddle to the ships,
and when they arrived near the vessels and saw the Spaniards, all
kissed the prows of the ships, in sign of adoration, thinking that
it was the god Quetzalcoatl that had returned, which god, as appears
in the history, was already expected. Then the Spaniards spoke and
said: “Who are you? Whence have you come? From where are you?” Those
who came in the canoes responded, “We have come from Mexico.” The
Spaniards said, “If it is true that you are Mexicans, tell us what
is the name of the Lord of Mexico.” They replied, “Our Lord, he is
called Montezuma,” and then they presented all of those rich mantles
which they had brought to him who went as general of those ships,
who was, as is said, Grijalva, and the Spaniards gave to the Indians
some glass beads, some green and others yellow, and the Indians when
they saw them were very much astonished and esteemed them greatly,
and then they (the Spaniards) dismissed the Indians, saying, “Now we
return to Castile, and will soon return and will (then) go to Mexico.”
The Indians returned to land and soon departed for Mexico, where they
arrived in a day and a night, to give the news of what they had seen
to Montezuma, and they brought to him the beads which had been given
them by the Spaniards, and spoke to him (Montezuma) as follows: “Our
Lord, we are deserving of death; hear what we have seen, and what we
have done. Thou hast placed us on guard at the seashore; we have seen
some gods on the sea, and went to receive them, and give them various
rich mantles; look at these beads that they gave us, saying to us,
‘Is it true that you are Mexicans? Look at these beads, give them to
Montezuma, that he may know of us.’” And they told him all that had
happened when they were with those (people) on the sea in the ships.
Montezuma responded: “You have come tired and worn out; go and rest.
I have received this (news) in secret, and command you not to say
anything whatever about what has happened.”
CHAPTER III. _Of what Montezuma disposed after he heard the news from
those who saw the first (Spanish) ships._
As soon as he (Montezuma) heard the news from those who had come from
the seashore, he ordered to be called at once the highest chief of
those who were called Cuextecatl, and the others who had come with
the message, and ordered them to place guards and lookouts in all the
farms along the shores of the sea, the one called Naulitlantoztlan,
and the other Mictlanquactla, so that they might see when those ships
returned, and at once give a report. The calpixques and captains then
left, and at once ordered the placing of lookouts on the said farms,
and Montezuma then summoned the most confidential of his chieftains
and communicated to them the news which had arrived, and showed them
the glass beads which the messengers had brought, and said, “It seems
to me that they are precious stones; take great care of them in the
wardrobe that none of them be lost, and if any are lost, those who
have charge of the wardrobe will have to pay.” One year hence, in the
year thirteen rabbit, those who were on guard saw ships on the sea,
and at once came with great speed to give notice to Montezuma. As soon
as he had heard the news, Montezuma despatched men for the reception
of Quetzalcoatl, because he thought that it was him who came, because
they expected him daily, and as he had received news that Quetzalcoatl
had gone by sea toward the east, and the ships came from the eastward,
for this (reason) they thought that it was he: he sent five of his
chief lords to receive him and to present to him a great present,
which he sent. Of those who went the most prominent one was called
Yallizchan, the second in rank Tepuztecatl, the third Tizaoa, the
fourth Vevtecatl, and the fifth Veicaznecatlheca.
CHAPTER IV. _What Montezuma ordered when he learned the second time
that the Spaniards had returned, this was D. Hernando Cortés._
To the above mentioned (messengers) Montezuma spoke, and said, “Look,
it has been said that our Lord Quetzalcoatl has arrived; go and
receive him and listen to what he may say to you with great attention;
see to it that you do not forget anything of what he may say; see
here these jewels which you are to present to him in my behalf, and
which are all the priestly ornaments that belong to him.” First a
mask wrought in a _mosaic of turquois_; this mask had wrought in
the same stones a doubled and twisted snake, the fold of which was
the beak of the nose; then the tail was parted from the head, and
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. This mask was inserted on a high and
big crown full of rich feathers, long and very beautiful, so that on
placing the crown on the head, the mask was placed over the face: it
had for a (central) jewel a medallion of gold, round and wide: it
was tied with nine strings of precious stones, which, placed around
the neck, covered the shoulders and the whole breast: they carried
also a large shield bordered with precious stones with bands of gold
which went from the top to the bottom of it, and other bands of pearls
crossing over the gold bands from the top to bottom of it, and in
the spaces left by these bands, which were like the meshes of a net,
were placed zapitos (little toads) of gold. This shield had edgings
in the lower part; there was attached on the same shield a banner
which came out from the handle of the shield, made of rich feathers:
it also had a big medallion made of _mosaic-work_ which was fastened
and girded around the loins: they carried also strings of precious
stones with gold bells placed in between the stones to be tied to
the ankles: they carried also a bishop’s staff all decorated with
_turquois mosaic-work_, and the crook of it was like the head of a
snake turned around or coiled. They also carried sandals (cotaras)
such as great lords were accustomed to wear. They also carried the
ornaments or finery with which Tezcatlipoca was adorned, which was a
head-piece made of rich feathers which hung down on the back almost to
the waist, and was strewn all over with stars of gold. They carried
also ear-ornaments of gold: they had hanging from them little gold
bells and strings of little white and beautiful sea-shells. From
these strings hung a piece of leather like a plastron (peto), and it
was carried tied in such a manner that it covered the breast down to
the waist: this plastron had strewn on it and hanging from it many
little shells. They carried also a corselet of painted white cloth;
the lower border of this corselet was edged with white feathers in
three strips all around the border: they also carried a rich mantle
the cloth of which was a light blue, and embroidered all over with
many designs of a very fine blue: this mantle was worn around the
waist, the (four) corners tied to the body: over this mantle was
worn a medallion of _turquois [work]_ attached to the body over the
loins: they also carried strings of gold bells to tie around the
ankles, and also white sandals (cotaras) like those the lords are
wont to wear. They also carried the ornaments and decorations of the
god Tlalocantecutli, which were, a mask with its feather-work, and
a banner like the one above mentioned: also wide ear-ornaments of
chalchivitl with snakes of chalchivites inside: and also a corselet
painted with green designs, and strings or collar of precious stones,
and also a medallion with which they girded the loins, like the one
above described, with a rich mantle, with which they girded themselves
like the one described above, and golden bells to place on the feet,
and the staff like the one above described. Other ornaments which they
carried were also of the same Quetzalcoatl, a miter of tiger-skin, and
hanging from the miter a hood of raven’s feathers: the miter also had
a large chalchivitl rounded at the end, and also round ear-ornaments
of _turquois mosaic_ with a hook of gold called ecacozcatl, and a
rich mantle with which he girded himself, and some gold bells for the
feet, and a shield which had in the center a round plate of gold,
which shield was bordered with rich feathers. From the lower part of
the shield came out a sash of rich feathers in the shape of the one
above described: it had a staff wrought in _turquois mosaic_, and
its crook was set with rich stones or conspicuous pearls. They also
had on top of it all some sandals (cotaras), such as the lords were
accustomed to wear. All these things were brought by the messengers
and presented, as they say, to D. Hernando Cortés. Many other things
they presented to him which are not written about, such as a miter of
gold made like a periwinkle with edging of rich feathers which hung
over the shoulders, and another plain miter of gold and other jewels
of gold which are not written about. All these things were placed in
hampers (petacas), and upon taking leave from Montezuma he said to
them, “Go and worship in my name the god who comes, and say to him we
have been sent here by your servant Montezuma: these things which we
bring have been sent by him, for you have come to your dwelling, which
is Mexico.” These messengers set out on the road at once, and arrived
at the seaside, and there took canoes [_cañas_, undoubtedly _canoas_
was written], and arrived at a place called Xicalanco: from there they
took other canoes with all their clothes, and reached the ships, and
then those of the ships asked them, “Who are you, and whence have you
come?” And those of the canoes answered, “We come from Mexico.” And
those of the ships said to them, “Perchance you are not from Mexico,
but falsely say you are from Mexico and deceive us.” And upon this
they took and gave (bartered?), until they were satisfied on both
sides, and they tied the canoe to the ship, and a ladder was let down,
by which they climbed up to the ship and came to where D. Hernando
Cortés was.
CHAPTER V. _Of what happened when the messengers of Montezuma entered
the ship of D. Hernando Cortés._
They commenced to climb up to the ship on the ladders, and brought
the presents that Montezuma had commanded them to carry. When they
were in front of the captain D. Hernando Cortés, all kissed the ground
[deck] in his presence, and spoke in this wise: “May the god whom we
come to adore in the name of his servant Montezuma, who for him rules
and governs the city of Mexico, know, and who says that the god has
come after much hardship.” And at once they took out the ornaments
they had brought, and placed them in front of the captain D. Hernando
Cortés, adorning him with them, placing first the crown and mask
which has been described above, and all the other things: they put
around his neck the collars of (precious) stones with the jewels of
gold which they had brought, and put on his left arm the shield above
described, and all the other things were placed in front of him in the
order they were accustomed to put their presents. The captain said,
“Is there something more?” And they said to him, “We have not brought
anything else than these things that are here.” The captain at once
ordered them to be tied, and ordered shots of artillery fired, and the
messengers who were tied hand and foot, when they heard the thunder of
the bombardment, fell on the floor like dead, and the Spaniards lifted
them from the floor, and gave them wine to drink, with which they
strengthened them and revived them. After this captain D. Hernando
Cortés said to them, through the interpreter: “Listen to what I say
to you. I have been told that the Mexicans are valiant men, that they
are great conquerors and great warriors, and are very skillful at
arms: they tell me that one Mexican alone is enough to conquer from
ten to twenty of his enemies. I wish to prove whether this is true,
and whether you are so strong as I have been told.” Then he ordered
swords and shields to be given them that they might fight with as many
Spaniards, so that he might see who might win, and the Mexicans then
said to captain Cortés, “May it please your grace to listen to our
excuse, for we are not able to do what you command, and it is because
our Lord Montezuma has sent us to do nothing else than to salute you
and give you this present, we cannot do anything else, nor are we
able to do what you order us, for if we did we should offend our Lord
Montezuma, and he would order us killed.” And the captain responded:
“You will have to do by all means what I say. I have to see what kind
of men you are, for over yonder in our country we have been told that
you are very courageous men: arm yourselves with these arms and be
ready that we encounter one another tomorrow on the (battle) field.
CHAPTER VI. _Of how the messengers of Montezuma returned to Mexico
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]
The next mask to be considered, on pl. XVII, is the only specimen known
from Central America, and with the pieces found recently in the Mexican
cave are the only major specimens found under archeological conditions.
This mask is 8½ inches high, and the three facial projections extend
4 inches from the face. It is in the Museum of the American Indian,
Heye Foundation. This interesting object was found some years ago in
a cave in the mountainous region of Honduras, in an arroyo on the
headwaters of a small stream flowing into the Rio Chamelecon, about 25
miles from the ruins of the ancient city of Naco. Hundreds of copper
bells of varying sizes and shapes were found at the same time. The mask
has been figured and described by A. H. Blackiston, whose description
follows:
First in interest in the writer’s collection is a large life-sized
mask of white cedar which was covered with mosaics of turquois and
other stones set in a thick gum or pitch with which it was coated.
Three greatly elongated straight projections answer for the nose and
the two lips. Holes were cut for the eyes and two small ones on the
sides for the thongs which bound it to the head. A large cavity in
the forehead was evidently the setting of the crowning stone of the
collection, though of what nature this was we unfortunately are unable
to surmise, as it evidently became loosened and dropped out years
before its discovery. Along the sides of the face are depressions in
the coating of gum for regularly shaped stones about half an inch long
by three-eighths of an inch in width, arranged in parallel rows--none
of which remain at present. The rest of the surface, as noted, was
covered with small turquois mosaics, a number of which are in place
today.[92]
_Skull Masks_
The two final masks to be described are the skull masks in the
Ethnographical Museum in Berlin, and in the British Museum, London. On
pl. XVIII is represented the Berlin example, which has been described
by Uhle and illustrated in colors, three-fourths natural size.[93]
Only the front of the skull has been used, and it was incrusted with
sky-blue to pale slabs of turquois. The mask is 6⅝ inches in height.
Our illustration is a photograph of the lithograph published by Uhle.
The skull mask in the British Museum (pl. XIX) has been illustrated
many times, and is one of the best-known pieces of Mexican mosaic.
It has also been repeatedly described, so that it is not necessary to
present a detailed description at this time. Suffice it to say that
the back of the skull has been cut away, and the front covered with
five broad transverse mosaic bands, alternating from the top downward,
of lignite (not obsidian, as all writers have described it, we are
informed by Joyce) and turquois. The inside is lined with leather, on
which traces of red paint still remain.
_Shields_
Richly decorated shields or chimallis played a prominent part in
certain phases of the life of the ancient Mexicans. Mrs. Nuttall, in
her interesting and instructive study, “On Old Mexican Shields,”[94]
has pointed out that “all authorities agree that the shields were
of two kinds. The first consisted of the military shields used
for protection in warfare by all grades of warriors; the second
comprised the shields carried, for display only, in religious dances
and festivals.” In this study Mrs. Nuttall has made the following
classification of shields, based on an extended examination of the
chronicles of early writers:
1. Plain, unadorned war-shields (_yaochimalli_) of several kinds, used
by the common soldiers.
2. Gala shields (_totopchimalli_), indicating the military rank and
achievement of chiefs. These seem to have been indiscriminately used
in warfare or feasts and dances. Their general structure seems to have
been alike in either case, though it is obvious that they may have
been more or less light and strong. Shields of this category sometimes
reproduced one or more features of the military costume, body-painting
and adornments pertaining to each grade. The shield in Museo Nacional
is an example of this kind. Others exhibited the emblematic device of
a militant god, Huitzilopochtli, Xipe, Yiacatecuhtli, etc., marking an
order of chivalry--and to this division the Stuttgart specimens belong.
3. Shields, presumably of the supreme war-chief, exhibiting in
picture-writing the name of his people or his personal appellation.
Nothing certain is known about this group, but its existence seems
vouched for by a series of indications.
4. Shields pictured in the codices with deities only exhibiting
their emblematic devices or reproducing features of their symbolic
attire. Such shields seem to have been carried, in religious dances
and festivals, by the living images of the deities in whose honor they
were held.
5. Shields of most precious materials, with strange and elaborate
designs, described in the Inventories. As they are not mentioned
elsewhere, it is not possible to state anything definite about them,
but it is obvious that they were intended for the use of individuals
of supreme rank. The beautiful shield at Castle Ambras belongs to
this group. It is, consequently, the sole forthcoming specimen with a
valid, though shadowy, right to the title of “Montezuma’s shield.”
[Illustration: PL. XXVI
SHIELD OF WOOD (FRAGMENT) WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION, NEW YORK]
In the inventories of the Cortés loot, 150 shields are enumerated,
mostly decorated with feathers, but 25 are specified as being
ornamented with turquois mosaic, while others were garnished with
gold. Of the feather-mosaic shields, one example is in Vienna (the
shield formerly in Castle Ambras), two are in Stuttgart, and one is in
the Museo Nacional, Mexico. Of the turquois mosaic shields, one is in
London, and one in Vienna; none exists in Mexico. To this number we
are now able to add eight specimens in New York, namely, one perfect
shield, two nearly complete ones, and five fragments, all from the cave
in the Mixteca.
We have already given numerous extracts from the early writers
concerning the use of mosaic shields as part of the paraphernalia
of the deities. In figs. 16-17 are two representations of the god
Paynal, holding in his right hand a mosaic shield. Fig. 16 is from the
Florentine manuscript of Sahagun (lamina 8), while fig. 17 is from the
Real Palacio manuscript of the same author. In the original the shield
is painted blue. These are the only examples we have been able to find
in the Mexican codices where the mosaic character of the shield is
unquestionably delineated.
[Illustration: FIG. 16]
[Illustration: FIG. 17]
We will now consider the two mosaic shields in Europe. On pl. XX is the
shield in the British Museum. Its early history is unknown, other than
that it was purchased in 1866 from a dealer who stated that it came
from Turin. Quite a little of the mosaic is missing, but not enough to
destroy the intricate and interesting designs. It has been described by
Read, accompanied with a drawing of the figures.[95] The shield is of
cedar, with a diameter of 12¼ inches. The material used for the mosaic
is turquois and shell. The center of the design consists of a circle in
relief, the edge of which is divided into four equal parts by angular
points in pink shell, and each quarter of the circumference has three
large but irregular pieces of shell at intervals. It is a _tonatiuh_,
or sun disc, and a figure of a serpent is disposed meander-fashion
vertically over the entire central portion. One edge of the snake is
bordered with imitation studs formed of brown gum, of which a few still
preserve a covering of very thin gold-leaf. The head is placed at the
upper left side, the tail ending in three feathers at the lower right
edge of the circle. On each side are two human figures, and at the
center, near the top, projecting from the body of the snake, is a
bifurcated design, probably a tree, upon which rests, in a pear-shaped
enclosure, a human figure on its back. Through the shield are many
irregular perforations, and twenty-five small holes are regularly
disposed around the edge, possibly for the suspension of feathers, or
bits of stone, gold, or gold-leaf, over gum, may have been inserted.
Two larger holes are near the upper margin.
[Illustration: PL. XXVII
SHIELD OF WOOD (FRAGMENT) WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION, NEW YORK]
On pl. XXI we reproduce the Vienna shield.[96] It is larger than the
London specimen, being 16½ inches in diameter, and the designs are not
so involved as in the London shield. Unfortunately the greater part
of the mosaic has fallen out, but the figures in most cases may be
traced by the impressions in the gum matrix. The designs consist of
two _tonatiuh_, or sun discs, placed one above the other. In the upper
_tonatiuh_ is a human figure. There are many examples of this motive
in Mexican sculptures and codices. Across the center of the shield,
between the two sun discs, is a procession of human figures, four each
on the right and the left, all facing the center. Between them is a
human figure, head-downward, in the act of falling or plunging from the
upper sun disc. Above this line of figures are four others, two on each
side of the sun disc, which they face. Below, facing the lower disc,
are three other figures on each side, and lower still are two more on
each side. The total number of human figures, so far as we are able
to determine, is twenty-four. This shield was formerly in the Castle
Ambras, near Innsbruck, and its history is traceable to 1596, it being
mentioned in an inventory of that date.
We cannot identify these two shields with those described in the Cortés
inventories, but there is no reason to doubt that they formed part of
that treasure. As examples of mosaic art, they are priceless, even in
their damaged condition.
The circumstances attending the discovery of the shields now in New
York have already been alluded to. Pl. I is an exact reproduction in
colors of one of these, the most important example of aboriginal
American mosaic art known. It is in an almost perfect state of
preservation, and is practically of the same size as the London
specimen, being 12¾ inches in diameter, with an average thickness of
three-eighths of an inch. The wood is probably cedar. In a highly
esthetic manner the mosaic incrustation has been set in a bed of gum,
with alternating massing of light and dark turquoises to produce bands
or zones of shading in light or dark bluish-green. It is estimated
that nearly 14,000 individual pieces enter into the composition of
this mosaic, the greater number being tiny circular bits. The design
represents a sun disc, with eight pointers in the outer rim. Inside of
the innermost of the two raised narrow encircling bands is a picture of
ceremonial or mythological character. We hesitate at an interpretation,
but the main features may quite certainly be recognized. We are of
the opinion that the scene portrayed perhaps relates to the worship
of the planet Venus. It is in the region where this shield was found
that Seler, after making exhaustive comparative studies of several
pre-Columbian codices, concludes:
We have to look for the home of the Codex Borgia group of
manuscripts.... It was a land inhabited by Aztec-speaking peoples;
it was conterminous with the Zapotec territory, and it lay on the
trade-route which led to the coast, and to the Maya-peopled district
of Tabasco.... Indeed we also know that in this very region astronomic
observation was highly developed, and the Morning Star (Venus) held in
special veneration.[97]
The upper horizontal band of the shield represents the celestial
region. It recalls, with its feather fringe at the top and dots hanging
from the lower section, the design around the so-called calendar
stone collected by Humboldt, now in the Berlin Museum, and the upper
encircling rim above the procession of figures of the so-called stone
of Tizoc, as well as some of the upper bands in the murals of Mitla.
If this is the celestial band, as we believe, it is quite appropriate
to find on it the _tonatiuh_, or sun, represented in the rosette in
the center. We find here two sets of four pointers each, radiating
from the central disc of feathers, which surrounds a lozenge-shaped
piece on which is a tiny pit below two horizontal lines. In the Real
Palacio manuscript of Sahagun (estampa XII) are pictures of various
symbols for heavenly bodies, one being a small disc with tiny dots,
explained by Sahagun as being the sign for Venus. We have endeavored to
identify this glyph with that of the symbol for turquois or jewel, or
the sign for chalchihuitl. There is a slight resemblance, but we hold
the opinion, as before stated, that it is the sign for the sun. We have
been unable to find the exact counterpart of this combination either in
the codices or in sculptures.
[Illustration: PL. XXVIII
SHIELD OF WOOD (FRAGMENT) WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION, NEW YORK]
We now come to a feature which is also found in the Vienna shield,
namely, a person falling or descending from the sun or celestial
regions. The injured condition of the Vienna specimen renders it
impossible to distinguish the sex of the figure, but in the New York
specimen a woman is represented, probably a goddess. On several pages
of the Codex Nuttall Zouche[98] (pp. 4, 19, 21) are representations
of human figures hanging from or plunging from the heavenly band.
Seler has connected these scenes with the Venus period of the Mexican
calendar. Attached to the band on our shield are five dots. Taken in
connection with the eight dots below, respectively four on each side of
the hieroglyph at the bottom, one recalls the suggestive fact that the
Mexicans were acquainted with the correspondence of eight solar years
to five Venus periods, and reckonings connected with the correction of
these two periods have been established by both Seler and Bowditch.[99]
In the Codex Selden is found an analogous picture, the band of the sky,
with a central _tonatiuh_, and a descending human figure attached,
below which are two figures. This scene has been interpreted by
Beyer[100] as representing the solar god accepting human sacrifice. In
our shield, the feature which follows in Codex Selden, depicting this
sacrifice, is absent.
In our shield, facing the plunging figure, are two human figures, one
on each side, holding something like a staff in each hand, similar
to those held in the hands of the goddess. From the mouth of each
of these figures protrudes an unknown object, perhaps a conch-shell
trumpet, but it is not supported by the hands.
[Illustration: FIG. 18]
Above a horizontal band just over the bottom of the inner encircling
rim is a hieroglyph. It is the well-known glyph for Culhuacan, or
Colhuacan, the name of an important town in the valley of Mexico in
ancient times. The form of the glyph, a mountain with a curved peak,
is derived from the tradition that the Nahuan people originated where
there was a mountain with a curved peak, called in the Nahuan language
_Culhuacan_. The sign is interwoven with the legendary history of the
ancient tribes in central Mexico, Teuculhuacan being the province far
to the north where were situated the Seven Caves of Chicomostoc, the
primeval home whence sallied the Seven Tribes. In the Codex Boturini I,
this legend is pictured. In fig. 18 are two forms of the glyph taken
from the Codex Telleriano Remensis. On each side of this glyph on the
shield are four dots, not to be confounded with the representations
of shells attached to the glyph. These eight dots should have a
calendric meaning, and we might stretch our imagination and consider
the glyph to be _Calli_, a day-sign and also year-bearer, represented
by the conventional figure of a house, which would give us the date
8 _Calli_, capable of being coordinated with either the year 1461 or
1513. The general character of the glyph, however, seems to be too well
established as Culhuacan to admit of such hypothesis.
[Illustration: PL. XXIX
SHIELD OF WOOD (FRAGMENT) WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION, NEW YORK]
In a letter to the writer Dr. H. J. Spinden advances an explanation
of the combination of the figures in this sun-disc shield. With his
permission we quote him verbatim:
I am inclined to believe that the design as a whole represents a sun
shield, the eight radiating bars being the rays, while the celestial
band, the three human figures, and the Colhuacan glyph replace the
parts of the sun’s face, namely, the head-band, the two eyes and nose
(the plunging figure in lieu of the nose), and the mouth. This may
seem pretty far-fetched at first glance, but it is quite in the spirit
of Aztec art. On the Calendar Stone, around the face of the sun god
and the _ollin_ symbol with the enclosed glyphs of the four ages,
is, first, a circle of the day signs, second, a circle of quincunx
figures, supposed to be the classical hieroglyphs or rather symbols
of turquoises, third, a frieze of eagles’ feathers. Multiple rays of
different sizes complete the picture. In the actual shield before us
we have the turquois mosaic, and the holes around the rim suggest that
eagles’ feathers may once have been attached. Compare the sun shield
or sun basket of the Pueblo Indians, and the various sun shields on
Mayan monuments. Now, the sun and turquois seem to be pretty closely
connected symbolically--both mean divine. The hieroglyph of the sun
is used for the _teo_, god, in place names, while the prefix _xiuh_
means divine in connection with various objects. Jade, on the other
hand, means precious. The sun in Aztec ritual is pretty closely
connected with riches and jewels, and the sun disc may easily have
been conceived of as a gem-studded object. I think it quite possible,
therefore, that the design on this shield was intended to symbolize
the face of the sun, and the fact that complete figures engaged in
some ritualistic function replaces the parts of a realistic face does
not detract from the theory.
The back of the shield is shown in pl. XXII. Through the two vertical
ridges are pairs of holes, evidently for the leather thongs for holding
the shield. The twenty-eight small holes around the edge of the shield
were probably for the insertion of feathers or other ornaments, as in
the British Museum shield.
In technique our shield is similar in all respects to the two mosaic
shields in Europe. In all three the incrustation is in a bed of gum
that has been spread over the wood.
We now come to the series of seven mosaic shields in New York, shown in
pls. XXIII-XXIX. In these we are dealing with a different technique,
and one which is new to us. For the matrix a kind of cement like fine
gritty brown sand was used in place of gum. They are unfortunately in a
considerably damaged state, but two are more or less complete. In these
examples the wood has been roughly shaped, and in all of them the marks
of the copper or stone adzes are clearly visible, for there was no
final smoothing of the wood as in the three specimens before described.
The probable reason for this is seen in the shield on pl. XXIII. On the
face of this specimen, on portions of the lower edge, especially at the
left, are traces of a coarse native paper made from the _amate_ tree,
which occurs as a band that had been glued to the wood. Traces of paper
also are found in the same place on the shield fragment illustrated
on pl. XXIV. It is impossible to state definitely if this paper once
extended from the edge to the raised body of the mosaic decoration.
On the fragmentary shield just referred to may be seen a faint black
line, made with some substance like graphite, running partly around the
circumference 1 to 1⅞ inches from the edge. It is probably the artist’s
line in arranging for some class of decoration, perhaps delimiting the
section to be covered with paper. On the first shield no such line is
found, but it seems certain that the rough wood between the narrow band
of paper and the mosaic must have been covered either with paper or
with some other material. There is no trace of cement, and we are led
to believe that the paper once extended over the entire plain surface
of the wood. Parchment or soft leather may also have been stretched
tightly over the outer zones of shields which show no traces of paper.
On this surface some type of decoration was undoubtedly placed. We
recall the quotation given above concerning the use of turquois
mosaic decoration on paper, in connection with the worship of the god
Huitzilopochtli. Feather-mosaics, so far as we know, were generally
made either on parchment or on paper. The codices were made either of
leather, parchment, or paper, often sized with stucco. In rare cases
the painting was applied directly on the paper. It is undoubtedly true
that one or the other of these processes of decoration completed the
ensemble of the shields we are now considering.
[Illustration: PL. XXX
EAR PLUG OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION, NEW YORK]
Another point of difference in this series of shields is the material
spread over the wood to receive the incrusted stones. It must have
solidified slowly to have allowed for the careful and laborious work
of fixing the pieces in the plastic matrix. In the case of the matrix
of gum, material could have been applied and would have hardened
immediately, for by tests, even after the lapse of centuries, we have
found it possible to loosen the bits by the application of heat to the
stone; but in the case of the cement matrix this is not possible. We do
not know what liquid was used to harden the cement, which is now quite
friable.
Relatively speaking, comparatively little turquois was used in this
class of mosaics. Different shades of a soft light-gray stone was
employed in the outer zones, while darker stones interspersed with
turquois of varying shades, some almost white, and bits of lignite and
obsidian, are found.
A final unique feature may be noted in the shields on pls. XXVII and
XXVIII. In the outer band will be observed the irregular inner edges of
the two lines of stones which form the border. In pl. XXVII the space
is filled in with a sprinkling of gritty, almost sand-like, bits of
faded whitish-blue bastard turquois. It appears to have been spattered
or sprinkled on while the matrix was very soft. In the case of the
shield on pl. XXVIII, the material is somewhat coarser, and consists of
rough bits of the same stone used in the broad light band within the
outer border.
These shields, so far as we are able to judge from the fragmentary
sections, contained no pictures or figures as in the other type. In
general execution they are inferior in workmanship, and less refined
and finished in appearance. In fact, they constitute a quite distinct
and, up to the present, unknown type of stone mosaic from Mexico.
The first shield of this series (pl. XXIII) is in two fragments, a
portion of one edge being missing. It has an average diameter of 15
inches, and a thickness of one-half to three-quarters of an inch, the
mosaic disc rising one-eighth of an inch above the wood. The mosaic
portion has a diameter of 10¼ inches. It appears to be a sun shield,
judging by the eight pointers which radiate from the band surrounding
the circular design in the center, which suggest a conventional
representation of the sun. In the center the darker bits are obsidian.
A portion of the matrix and of the mosaic incrustation has fallen off,
and on the matrix near the upper left is a greasy patch which may be
candle grease.
The shield on pl. XXIV is the same size as the preceding one, 15 inches
in diameter. It is also in two sections, and a larger section of the
side is missing. This likewise is probably a sun shield, but it has no
pointers. Where the outer band has fallen off toward the lower part
can be seen a faint incised line which the artist placed there as a
guide-line in following out the circular mosaic decoration. In the
center the black bits are lignite.
The next shield shown (pl. XXV) consists of a half section only. It
was slightly larger than any other shield in the collection, having a
diameter of 15¼ inches and a thickness of 1 inch. It was a sun shield,
and had four pointers identical with those on the famous calendar stone
of the Aztecs. There are traces of a paper band glued around the outer
edge; the black line has already been referred to. The central disc,
with the white lines made of very tiny bits, is similar to the central
part of the shield on pl. XXIII.
[Illustration: PL. XXXI
HEAD WITH HEAD-PIECE OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
NATIONAL MUSEUM, COPENHAGEN]
[Illustration: PL. XXXII
A
JAGUAR HEAD OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
ETHNOGRAPHICAL MUSEUM, BERLIN
B
ANIMAL HEAD OF WOOD WITH HUMAN FACE IN OPEN JAW
WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
NATIONAL MUSEUM, COPENHAGEN]
[Illustration: PL. XXXIII
A
ANIMAL HEAD OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
STATE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, VIENNA
B
MONKEY HEAD OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON]
[Illustration: PL. XXXIV
A
TWO-HEADED JAGUAR FIGURE OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
ETHNOGRAPHICAL MUSEUM, BERLIN
B
BIRD HEAD OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
MUSEUM, GOTHA]
[Illustration: PL. XXXV
ANIMAL FIGURE OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON]
One of the most interesting specimens is reproduced in pl. XXVI, which
is 14⅞ inches in diameter. This is the only shield of the series
bearing a figure. It had four pointers, which suggest a sun disc,
but the symbol seems clearly to be a conventional cross-section of a
conch-shell, the well-known and often delineated symbol of Ehecatl,
god of the air, one of the various attributes of the god Quetzalcoatl.
In this example the light pieces of stone are larger than
in any other piece, but they are cut exceedingly thin. Around the
outer edge of the mosaic is a faint incised line, and three lines may
be seen projecting from the pointers, showing that the artist carried
his guide-lines beyond the zone finally used. The circular line is so
regular that there is no doubt that the workman used our methods, tying
a piece of cord to an awl and working from the exact center of the
shield.
The two fragments on pl. XXVII and XXVIII are the same size--15 inches
in diameter. They are similar in workmanship; the special feature,
the sprinkled outer band, has already been alluded to. In the first
specimen an irregular cavity on the upper face was apparently filled in
with cement, traces of which remain. The two holes in each shield are
modern, but the two specimens came to us joined with leather strings.
They are, however, sections of separate shields.
The last shield of the series (pl. XXIX) has a height of 14⅝ inches. It
comprises little more than a third of the original object, hence the
diameter must have been fully 15 inches or more. As in the others, we
find the encircling bands, but as no part of the center remains, we do
not know if it had a figure or was like the others of the series.
_Ear-plug_
With the deposit of masks and shields in the cave in the Mixteca,
now in the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, was the
unique wooden object shown on pl. XXX. It is spool-shaped, the bottom
flat, the upper part concave and covered with a mosaic of dark-green
turquois, with a central disc of dark rose-colored shell. It is 1½
inch high, with a diameter of 1¾ inch at the upper and lower rims.
There is no doubt that this specimen was an ear-plug. The sides of the
spool show the small gouges of the cutting instrument with which it was
fashioned, and the entire surface not covered with mosaic was painted
rose-red.
_Animal Figures_
The specimen in the National Museum in Copenhagen, shown on pl. XXXI,
has been described in detail by Lehmann,[101] and our illustration is
taken from his photograph. It is considerably damaged, much of the
mosaic incrustation having disappeared. The materials are turquois,
malachite, shell, and mother-of-pearl. In its original state it was one
of the imposing pieces of this art. The upper projecting part rising
from the top of the head probably simulated a plumed head-dress. Its
extreme height is about 10½ inches, and the diameter only 3¾ inches.
On pl. XXXII are illustrated two animal heads. The first (_a_), a
jaguar head, in the Ethnographical Museum in Berlin, has been described
in detail by Lehmann in his paper published in the _Proceedings of
the Fifteenth Congress of Americanists_, held at Quebec in 1906. It
is 5¾ inches high, and the mosaic is composed of turquois, malachite,
and shell. The other specimen (_b_) is in the National Museum at
Copenhagen.[102] It seems to represent a serpent’s head with a human
face in the open jaws. The mosaic is turquois, malachite, and reddish
shell. It has an extreme length of 13½ inches and is 8¼ inches high.
Much of the incrustation has fallen off.
The animal head shown on pl. XXXIII, _a_, is in the Vienna Museum, and
has been illustrated by Heger in three views.[103] Our drawing is the
side-view, after Heger. This object is 4⅝ inches long from front to
back. Much of the mosaic has fallen away, and the pieces of jadeite,
obsidian, and shell are larger and the work is generally coarser than
in any of the other examples in Europe. Heger’s photographs depict a
leather thong issuing from a hole at the back of the head.
[Illustration: PL. XXXVI
DOUBLE-HEADED SERPENT OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON]
[Illustration: PL. XXXVII
FIGURE OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION, GOD XOLOTL
STATE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, VIENNA]
The other mosaic on this plate (_b_) is in the British Museum. It
represents a monkey-like head of white wood, with open mouth. The
mosaic coating is of turquois, malachite, and other stones. The back
has a hemispherical depression coated round the sides with a thick
layer of brown gum, smoothly finished, containing some woolen threads.
The turquoises are chiefly of the pale-greenish variety, but
above the sides of the mouth are two patches of bright-blue stones.
Each eye is set in the lower edge of a protuberance coated with
malachite, the eyes themselves being convex discs of highly polished
iron pyrites set in a ring of shell. Height 4 inches, width 2.7 inches.
An interesting piece is the two-headed jaguar figure in the
Ethnographical Museum in Berlin (pl. XXXIV, _a_).[104] It is covered
with bits of turquois and malachite, together with some obsidian,
shell, and mother-of-pearl. The eyes are of malachite. This specimen
measures 12⅝ inches in length, and the workmanship seems to be very
artistic.
An important and unique example of mosaic art is shown on pl. XXXIV,
_b_, which represents a bird’s head embellished with an incrustation of
turquois, malachite, obsidian, mother-of-pearl, red coral, and white
shell, but much of the mosaic has fallen out. This specimen is in the
Museum in Gotha.[105]
A much injured specimen in the British Museum is illustrated on pl.
XXXV, which represents an animal on his haunches, with open mouth and
protruding tongue. On its back is a circular, cup-like receptacle.
It is cut from a hard, pale-brown wood. Almost the entire surface
was originally covered with mosaic laid in a bed of black gum, the
component pieces being turquois, malachite, pink shell, pearl shell,
and fragments of iron pyrites. The cup-shaped receptacle on the back
of the animal is now covered with a transparent varnish, except in one
place where the black gum and bits of mosaic are still in place. The
varnish shows here and there fragments of gold-leaf, perhaps indicating
that the cup was once entirely gilded. The height is 6.8 inches.[106]
The gracefully modeled breast-ornament representing a two-headed
serpent (pl. XXXVI) is in the British Museum. The base is of
light-colored wood, hollowed at the back and painted red. The front of
the snake is covered with turquois mosaic; the teeth and fangs in each
open jaw of the snake are made of white shell, while the edges of the
gums are indicated with pink shell. Across each nose is a raised band
of turquois and red shell. The heads have mosaic-work on both sides,
and it is probable that the eye-sockets formerly contained discs of
iron pyrites. On the upper edges of the two loops of the bodies are
holes for suspension. Length 17⅛ inches, height 8 inches.
_God Figure_
The figure of the deity shown in pl. XXXVII is in the Vienna Museum.
It has been described by Dr. Heger, who has kindly sent me a number
of photographs of the object, and some details regarding it. This has
been identified by Dr. Seler as representing the god Xolotl, one of
the deities or guardians of the Tonalamatl.[107] The specimen does not
contain much mosaic decoration, being of highly polished wood. It is 3½
inches high and 2¾ inches broad. Dr. Heger has courteously sent me the
following notes concerning the specimen:
The posterior circular cavity (see side view) is partly filled with a
resin-like mass, by means of which the piece must have been fastened
to some other object. Vestiges of this resin-like substance are found
in all the hollowed places where today some of the inlay is missing,
as in each of the three rounded oval incurvations, of both lateral
walls, in which probably small heads [of mosaic?] were also incrusted.
The eyes and the six small teeth consist of milk-white shells; the
two hook-like canines consist of white mother-of-pearl-like shells.
The two large ear-lobes, as well as the inferior part of the nasal
septum, are perforated transversely. The pretty little human head at
the navel of the figure probably consists of pitch-black obsidian.
The ear-pendants are missing on the left side. The pupils of the eye
(right one missing) are enclosed in small rings of mother-of-pearl.
Projecting from the opened mouth, there is above the red tongue
another small white shell-plate with three sharp downward points
(teeth). The little head shows injury in several places.
[Illustration: PL. XXXVIII
STONE KNIFE WITH HANDLE OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
BRITISH MUSEUM, LONDON]
[Illustration: PL. XXXIX
A
B
KNIFE HANDLES OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
PREHISTORIC AND ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUM, ROME]
_Knife Handles_
The next group of objects to be noted consists of knife handles. The
beautiful specimen on pl. XXXVIII is in the British Museum. It
is a chipped leaf-shape bladed knife of honey-colored chalcedony.
The handle is of a soft, light-colored wood, carved in the form of a
crouching human figure. The actual socket in which the blade is fixed
proceeds from the chest of the figure, which grasps it with a hand on
each side, and rests his chin on the top. The socket is firmly bound
with cord. The figure and the socket up to the binding have been
covered with a mosaic, chiefly of turquois, varied with malachite and
white, pink, purple, and orange shell, as well as a few pieces of pearl
shell. Much of the mosaic has disappeared. The figure wears an eagle
mask, the face appearing in the open jaws. This knife, which measures
12½ inches in length, is one of the most artistic of mosaic specimens.
[Illustration: FIG. 19]
Belonging to this class are the two handles on pl. XXXIX, which
are in the Museum in Rome. They have been illustrated in colors by
Pigorini. Through the interest of Dr. Lothrop we are enabled to present
photographs of these two very interesting objects, together with some
additional observations concerning them. The first piece (pl. XXXIX,
_a_, and fig. 19 after Pigorini), is in the form of a crouching figure
with an animal head and wide-open mouth. It has been described as a
knife handle, like the other specimen (_b_), which is unquestionably
of that character, but Dr. Lothrop writes that the front of this piece
(_a_), where the knife blade should be inserted, is smoothly covered
with a kind of cement, while in the belly of the figure is a large
hole. From Dr. Lothrop’s examination of the specimen he was unable to
satisfy himself whether it was a knife handle or was intended to be
placed on the head of a staff. The materials used for the incrustation
are turquois, reddish shell, dull white shell, mother-of-pearl, and
small flakes of gold. In the Pigorini illustration, which represents
the side opposite that shown here, two flakes of gold are shown, one in
the eye, the other on the arm between elbow and shoulder.
The other piece (pl. XXXIX, _b_), unquestionably a knife handle, as
stated, of the same technique as the specimens in the British Museum,
represents a crouching human figure. The materials are turquois,
dark-green malachite, white shell, mother-of-pearl, and red shell.
Lothrop calls our attention to the tiny pieces of turquois set in shell
on the shoulder and in other places. He also states that a portion of a
broken chert (?) blade is still imbedded in the socket in front of the
figure.
_Human Femur Musical Instrument_
The last of the specimens of mosaic to be described is the musical
instrument (_omichicauaztli_) made from a left human femur, illustrated
on pl. XL. This unique example, which is in the Museum in Rome, has
been reproduced in colors by Pigorini. The mosaic seems to have been
confined to the head and neck, although the trochanter major may also
have been covered at one time. The incrustation at present consists
of gum in which are pinkish-orange bits of colored shell. A modern
copper chain is attached to the bone, from which hangs an oliva shell,
undoubtedly ancient.
[Illustration: PL. XL
HUMAN FEMUR MUSICAL INSTRUMENT WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
PREHISTORIC AND ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUM, ROME]
According to Dr. Lothrop, the oliva shell shows signs of wear, and was
probably the instrument used for rasping the bone, as the bone is
sound and produces a rather musical tone when scraped with the shell,
as if the bone were of china.
Notched human bones are not uncommon in ancient Mexico, and some have
been found elaborately engraved. In the course of excavations made in
1900 in the street back of the Cathedral in the City of Mexico, were
uncovered many small pottery models of musical instruments which had
been placed there undoubtedly when the foundations of the great Aztecan
_teocalli_ were laid. The writer secured for the American Museum of
Natural History examples of these interesting models. Among them was a
notched bone having attached to it a model of the handled instrument
with which it was rubbed or rasped.[108]
* * * * *
Finally, attention is called to three objects of wood, of Mexican
origin, in the Museo Borgiano, Rome. They have been described by
Colini, and two of the pieces illustrated, in the _Bollettino della
Società Geografica Italiana_.[109] The first is an idol representing
a human figure, 17¾ inches in height; the other two specimens, those
figured by Colini, are masks, and it is highly probable that all of
these pieces were once decorated, at least in part, with mosaic. One of
the masks is 6⅞ inches, and the other 7⅛ inches, in height.
CONCLUSION
In view of the considerable number of objects of stone mosaic that
were sent to Europe during the first years of the Spanish conquest
of Mexico, part of the loot obtained by Hernán Cortés, it is quite
possible that other examples are still hidden away either in Spain or
in Italy, which some day will be brought to light. Only twenty years
ago two wonderfully preserved carved ceremonial spear-throwers, or
atlatls, of wood, covered with delicate gold-leaf, were found in an
old leather-covered case in a house in Florence, and are now exhibited
in the Ethnological Museum of that city. It is not to be doubted that
they were sent from Mexico by Cortés himself, and remained stored away,
unknown to the world, until recent times. Bushnell, who figured and
described these atlatls, believes that they were formerly in the famous
collection of the Medicis, and that other objects of Mexican origin
may be hidden away in Italy, to be revealed from time to time.[110]
Again, in 1891, Mrs. Zelia Nuttall was the first to bring to our
notice the important mosaic shield, and the still more interesting
feather-mosaic shield in the Castle Ambras near Innsbruck, which were
shortly afterward transferred to the ethnographical section of the
State Natural History Museum in Vienna.[111]
We should call attention here to the possibilities of finding mosaics
in Mexico, emphasizing the fact that the collection in the Museum of
the American Indian, Heye Foundation, was found under archeological
conditions. Until now we have been somewhat sceptical in regard to the
possibility of wooden objects of such a fragile and perishable nature
being discovered either in tombs or in ruined buildings in Middle
America. As we have already written, the few traces of this mosaic art
found heretofore in excavations have been of a fragmentary character.
No specimens of wood covered with mosaic have been found previously
in Mexico, with the exception of the small rim of wood excavated by
Gamio in Zacatecas, and the four pieces from Chichen Itza. In the
tropical and temperate zones, where the most important ancient sites
are situated, artifacts of wood of any sort have rarely been unearthed.
It is true that in some of the remote villages carved wooden drums
(_teponaztli_) have been religiously guarded from the time of the
conquest, and are brought out and played at certain festivals during
the year. But these drums are kept in the cabildos, and are preserved
with zealous care.
We would again call attention to the statement of Sahagun regarding
the tradition of the abandonment of Tula, that Quetzalcoatl ordered
certain precious things to be buried in the neighboring hills and
ravines. This, of course, refers to times long anterior to the coming
of white men. After this unfortunate event, fatal indeed to the
Indian, the natives undoubtedly secreted a vast amount of material.
The circumstances concerning this have been told by Father Motolinia.
As this account is but little known, we have translated literally the
entire chapter, for it reveals to us the miserable state into which the
aborigines had fallen within twenty years after their subjugation.
_Of how there was an end of idols and of the feasts which the Indians
were wont to prepare, and of the vanity and the endeavor which the
Spaniards displayed in (their) search for idols._
The feasts which the Indians made, as is told in the first part
(of this book), with their ceremonies and pomp, all ended from the
beginning (of the time) that the Spaniards were making war (on them),
because the Indians had so much to think about in their tribulations
that they did not think of their gods, not even of themselves,
because they had so much sorrow that in order to remedy that, all the
principal (things in their lives) were stopped.
In every town they had an idol or demon whom they considered chiefly
as their mediator, and called him such, and they honored and adorned
him with jewels and garments, and the best they could find they
offered him, each town as it was (able to), and more so in the
capitals of provinces. These principal idols I mention, as soon as
the city of Mexico was taken by the Spaniards, with their jewels and
wealth the Indians hid in the most secret place they could find; a
large part of the gold that was on (or with) the idols and in the
temples they gave as tribute to the Spaniards under whose patronage
they belonged; for they could not do otherwise because in the
beginning the tributes were so excessive that all the Indians could
scrape together or search for, nor what the lords and chiefs had,
would suffice; besides, they were forced (to pay tributes) with such
iniquity that they also gave the gold they had in the temples of the
demons (idols), and even when this was exhausted they paid tribute in
slaves, and many times not having slaves in order to comply (with the
taxes), they gave free (Indians) as slaves.
These principal idols, with the insignia and ornaments or garments
belonging to the demons, the Indians hid, some in the earth, others in
caves, and still others in the woods. Later, when the Indians became
converted and were baptized, they unearthed many (of them), and they
brought them to the courtyards of the churches to burn them publicly.
Others rotted in the earth, because after the Indians had received
(or accepted) the Faith, they were ashamed to take out those they
had hidden, and would rather let them rot than that anyone should
know that they hid them. And when they were importuned to tell (talk)
about their principal idols and their vestments, they took them out,
all decayed, of which I am a witness, for I have seen it (done) many
times. The excuse they gave was good, for they said, “When we hid it,
we did not know God, and we thought the Spaniards would soon return to
their (own) country, and after we came to understand (about) God, we
left it to rot, because we were afraid and ashamed to take it out.”
In other towns these principal idols with their vestments were in the
care of the lords or of the principal priests of the demons, and those
kept them so secretly that hardly anyone knew about them except two or
three people who guarded them, and of these (idols) they also brought
a very large number to the monasteries to burn them. In many other
remote villages, far away from Mexico, when the monks went there to
preach, they told them in their sermons and before christening them
that the first thing they had to do was to bring all the idols they
had and all the insignias of the demons to burn (them): and in this
manner they also gave and brought a large quantity which was publicly
done in many parts (of the country): because wherever the doctrine
and the word of God has reached, not a thing has remained that they
knew or could tell about, for if from now on for a hundred years they
should dig in the courts of the temples of the ancient idols, they
would always find idols, because there were so many that they had
made: for it happened that when a child was born they made an idol,
and the following year (they made) one a little larger, and after
four years they made another one, and as the child grew up they went
on making idols, and of these (idols) the foundations and walls are
filled, and in the courts there are many of them. In the year (15)39
and in the year (15)40 several Spaniards, some with authority and
some without it, to show their zeal of the Faith, and thinking that
they were accomplishing something (worth while), began to dig and to
unearth the dead and to urge the Indians that they should give them
idols: and in some parts (of the country) this reached such a stage
that the Indians went to look for the idols that were decayed and
forgotten in the earth, and some of the Indians were even so sorely
tormented that, to tell the truth, they made new idols and gave them
(to the Spaniards) that they should cease maltreating them.
Mixed with the great zeal they (the Spaniards) showed in searching
for idols, (there was) not a little covetousness, and it was because
the Spaniards (would say), in such a village, or in such a parish,
there are (were) idols of gold, or of chalchihuitl which is a stone
of great value, and they imagined that there was an idol weighing ten
or fifteen arrobas: but in truth they came (too) late, because all
the gold and precious stones were spent and cashed in and safely in
the power (hands) of the Spaniards who first held those Indians under
their jurisdiction. They also thought of finding an idol of stone
which would be worth as much as a city, and certainly, although I
have seen many idols which were adored and held highly by the Indians
and (were) very (greatly) revered as chief gods, and some were of
chalchihuitl, the one which seemed to me to be worth most, I do not
think that in Spain they would give ten pesos of gold for it: for
this they upset and stir and scandalize the towns with their truly
indiscrete zeal, because if there really is still an idol in some
village, it is either rotten or so (completely) forgotten or (held or
kept) so secretly that in a town of ten thousand inhabitants there
are not even five who know it, and they hold them for what they are,
either for stones or for wood. Those who thus upset these Indians who
go their straight way, are like Laban who went to meet Jacob to look
for his property, and to upset his house in search of his idols,
because of this that I am telling here I have great experience and I
(can) see the deceit in which they go about and the way they have to
disturb and disfavor (hurt) these poor Indians who have forgotten so
absolutely their idols, as if it were a hundred years ago (that they
had had them).[112]
Hernándo Ruiz de Alarcon, in his treatise on the superstitions of the
natives of New Spain, relates that when they went to the hills or
other remote places where their idols were hidden away, or to certain
piles of stones where they often made offerings and sacrifices, they
carried there offerings which were sometimes copal incense wrapped in
_quauhamatl_, a kind of white paper made from the bark of a soft tree.
This work, written in 1620, is entitled, _Tratado de las Supersticiones
y Costumbres Gentilicas que oy viuen entre los Indios Naturales desta
Nueva España_, and was published for the first time in 1892 by the
Museo Nacional of Mexico. The present writer has noted such stone
piles, particularly in Yucatan.
It is probable that we have here an explanation of the existence of our
deposit of mosaic-incrusted wooden shields and masks, which leads us
to hope that still further discoveries of this character may be made.
The climatic conditions in certain parts of the highlands of Middle
America, where this deposit was found in a cave, favor this assumption.
There are great sections of comparatively dry, wind-swept, almost
desert plains, treeless hill-slopes, and ravines, where the chief
vegetation is cacti in the lower altitudes, while higher up pines and
oaks abound. Here wooden objects should be indefinitely preserved in
ancient tombs or in caves, protected by a covering of loose, dry earth,
the condition under which our collection was found.
The discovery of this remarkable collection of mosaics emphasizes the
fact that the investigation of the archeology of Mexico is hardly
commenced, in view of the vast amount of material hidden under the
ruins of thousands of ancient settlements and burial places, and
probably in countless caves, which still remain untouched by the
archeologist.
As revealed by the surprising results of Thompson’s dredging in the
sacred cenote in Yucatan, a wealth of archeological material also lies
buried in the mud under the waters of sacred wells and lakes. This is
notably so in the case of Lake Chapala, on the borders of Michoacan
and Jalisco in Mexico,[113] and of Lake Amatitlan in Guatemala, where
thousands of pottery vessels and other objects have been recovered from
the bottoms of the lakes by divers, and from the mud when the waters
have receded from the shores during times of extreme drought. These
objects had been thrown into the waters as offerings to the gods.
The recent results of the systematic exploration of the great mounds
at Teotihuacan have been quite surprising, and have shed new light on
the archeology of the central plateau of Mexico. Even more important is
the discovery of culture sequences in stratified deposits in the valley
of Mexico, the investigations showing three distinct culture layers
distinguished by the character of the pottery. Of great significance
are the discoveries recently made under the great lava flow called the
Pedregal, at the very edge of the City of Mexico, where the artifacts
correspond _in toto_ with those found in the bottom layer of the
stratified deposits.[114] These discoveries mark a great advance in
our knowledge of the history of ancient Mexico, but, as we have before
stated, they are only a beginning. Buried underground are the “books”
the student must study, if ever the tangled history of Middle America
is to become known and the story of the development of this exceedingly
interesting division of the human race is to be recorded.
NOTES
[1] See Saville, The Goldsmith’s Art in Ancient Mexico, _Museum of the
American Indian, Heye Foundation, Indian Notes and Monographs_, 1920.
[2] Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, Historia General y Natural
de las Indias, edition of the Real Academia de la Historia, tomo I,
primera parte, lib. XVII, caps, VIII-XVIII, pp. 502-537, Madrid, 1851.
[3] The Itinerary of Grijalva, written by chaplain Juan Díaz, was
undoubtedly recorded in Spanish, but we know it only from the Italian
translation of 1520. It was translated into Spanish by Joaquin Garcia
Icazbalceta and published by him in his _Documentos para la Historia
de México_, tomo I, Mexico, 1858. A translation into English, with
translations of other accounts, relating to this voyage, will appear in
the _Publications of the Cortes Society_ under the title, The Voyage of
Juan de Grijalva to Yucatan and the Mexican Coast in 1518.
[4] We quote here from the edition of Bernal Díaz published by the
Hakluyt Society, bearing the title, The True Conquest of New Spain,
translated into English by Alfred Percival Maudslay. The citation is
from vol. I, pp. 48-49, London, 1908.
[5] Bernal Díaz, op. cit., vol. I, p. 53. In the work of Torquemada,
Monarchia Indiana, is an important statement bearing on this matter, of
which we give the following translation _in extenso_:
“And this present it was that Gomara and Antonio de Herrera make
confused mention as having been brought to Ferdinand Cortés by the
governors of Montezuma on his first landing, which they notice in
the following words: ‘Which present it is said was sent for Juan de
Grijalva, when he touched on those shores; but that, notwithstanding
the haste of those who carried it, they found that he was gone.’ The
fact was as they state; but I do not understand how those who drew
up the account of which Herrera availed himself, could have omitted
that which I say in this chapter, and many other particulars which
shall be observed in the sequel; since the circumstances which they
mention, and those which I relate, are intimately connected with each
other, and those who could have given an account of the former, could
likewise have done so of the latter; although I think that the error
lay in their seeking information only from the Spaniards, who at that
period returned from the Indies, without verifying facts by applying
to the Indians, who were mainly concerned in most of them, or I may
say in all, since they were the mark which all who have written on
the affairs of the conquest strove to hit, and were those who were
very well acquainted with them, and in the beginning recorded them
by means of figures and characters, and afterward, when some of the
most curious amongst them had learned how to write, wrote them down;
which histories are in my possession: and so high is the estimation
in which I hold them, on account of their language and the style of
their composition, that I should be glad to feel myself competent to
the task of translating them into Spanish with the same elegance and
grace as the Mexicans penned them in their own language; and since
these histories are true and authentic, I follow them to the letter;
but lest the accounts which they contain should appear strange to
those who read them, I affirm that they are merely a true relation of
what actually happened, but that other authors have not noticed them
before me, because the few that have written on the affairs of the
Indies were ignorant of the events which then occurred, nor had they
any one to give them the requisite information; neither should I have
mentioned these facts had I not found that they were verified by Father
Bernardino de Sahagun, a grave and pious ecclesiastic, who was of the
second number of those who undertook the conversion of the natives of
New Spain, but was the first of the investigators of the most secret
things of this land, of which he knew all the secrets, and employed
himself for more than sixty years in composing works in the Mexican
language and in incorporating into it all the information which he was
able to acquire.” Lib. IV, cap. XIII.
[6] This important work will be reprinted in facsimile, with a
translation into English, in the author’s proposed work on the voyage
of Grijalva, as mentioned in Note 3.
[7] This account will also be reprinted in facsimile, with a
translation into English, in the author’s account of the voyage of
Grijalva. The title is, Provinciæ Sive Regiones in India Occidentali
Noviter Repertæ in Vltima Navigatione. The known copies are in the John
Carter Brown Library, Providence, and the New York Public Library.
[8] I quote here from the translation made and edited by Francis A.
MacNutt, De Orbe Novo, vol. II, pp. 19-20, New York, 1912.
[9] The chapters relating to the voyage of Grijalva have been
translated into English by the writer and will appear in the proposed
work mentioned in Note 3.
[10] Francisco López de Gomara, edition of Don Enrique de Vedia,
Historiadores Primitivos de Indias, in _Biblioteca de Autores
Españoles_, tomo I, Madrid, 1877.
[11] Eduard Seler, Ein Kapitel aus dem Geschichtswerk des P. Sahagun,
p. 124, Berlin, 1890.
[12] Lehmann, in his Methods and Results in Mexican Research, Paris,
1909, writes: “Hardly less remarkable are the mosaics made of more or
less precious stones, shells, etc. No less than twenty-three pieces are
known in various museums, the finest being in London, Rome, and Berlin.
The stones when cut to shape are embedded in a peculiar substance
(_tzinacanquauhcuitlatl_) covering the whole surface of the object
to be decorated; the latter were chiefly of wood, rarely of bone or
stone. Two masks are skilfully prepared human skulls. The usual shapes
are shields, helmets, knife handles and trinkets. The small cup-shaped
heads and the double-jaguar in the Berlin Museum are of doubtful
meaning. Most of these objects apparently come from the Eastern
provinces, i. e., Tabasco. We know from other sources that it was only
under king Ahuizotl, with the conquest of the Tzapotec district, that
the Mexicans became acquainted with turkois-mosaics, shields, earrings,
etc.” This is a translation of his Ergebnisse und Aufgaben der
mexikanistischen Forschung, published in _Archiv für Anthropologie_,
Neue Folge, band VI, heft 2 u 3, Braunschweig, 1907.
[13] See Lehmann in our List of Works Describing Mexican Mosaics, under
1906.
[14] Juan de Torquemada, Monarchia Indiana, Barcia edition, Madrid,
1732, lib. II, cap. LXXIX, p. 215.
[15] See Antonio Peñafiel, Nomenclatura Geográfica y Etimológica de
México, Mexico, 1897.
[16] Clavigero, The History of Mexico, Cullen transl., vol. II, p. 232,
London, 1787.
[17] Saville, The Goldsmith’s Art in Ancient Mexico, op. cit.
[18] Peter Martyr, op. cit., vol. II, p. 46.
[19] Las Casas, Historia de las Indias, tomo IV, cap. CXXI, pp.
284-286, Madrid ed., 1876.
[20] Fr. Bernardino de Sahagun, Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva
España, Bustamante ed., lib. 12, caps, II-VI, pp. 5-12, Mexico, 1829.
Notes to Chapter III. The two places mentioned here, Naulitlantoztlan
and Mictlanquactle, are given by Torquemada (op. cit., lib. IV, cap.
XIII, p. 379) as four different towns. Nauhtla and Toztla, the first
two, are recognizable as being combined into one place-name by Sahagun.
This is also the case with Mictla and Quauhtla, the third and fourth
towns of Torquemada, the Mictlanquactle of Sahagun. Brasseur de
Bourbourg transforms them to Nauhtlan, Tochtlan, and Mictlan-Quauhtla,
in which he is followed by Orozco y Berra.
Vigil, the editor of Tezozomoc, states that the town of Mictlancuauhtla
has disappeared, but in a map or plan of Vera Cruz in the collection of
Icazbalceta, sent in 1580 to Philip II by the alcalde Alvaro Patiño,
the place is still mentioned, under a corrupted form of the name, as
Metlangutla.
The name of the five lords sent by Montezuma to receive Cortés,
conceived to be Quetzalcoatl, are spelled differently by Torquemada
(op. cit., P-379), and they more closely approach the orthography of
Molina’s dictionary. They are, Yohualychan, Tepuztecatl, Tizahua,
Huehuetecatl, and Hueycamecateca.
Notes to Chapter VI. This Xicalanco is not to be confused with the
Mexican colonial town of the same name near the Laguna de Términos,
Tabasco. A branch of the Nahuan Mexican people called Xicalancas from
the name of their first ruler, Xicalancatl, settled on the coast of
Vera Cruz in the region between the present city of Vera Cruz and the
Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
Torquemada relates that the messengers, on leaving the ship of Cortés,
“paddled rapidly away, and came to a little island called Xicalanco,
where they ate, and rested a little, and they left there and came to
a town on the seashore called Tecpantlayacac; from there they went to
Cuetlaxtla, which is some leagues in the interior, where they spent
the night; the lords and chief of the town begged them to remain there
that day and rest, but they replied that the need for speed for their
journey was great.”--Op. cit., lib. IV, cap. XIV, p. 384.
[21] Peter Martyr, op. cit., vol. II, pp. 196-197.
[22] Saville, Goldsmith’s Art in Ancient Mexico. The inventories of the
loot obtained by Cortés are given in English translation on pp. 56-102.
[23] This is quoted from the study of Dr. J. Cheston Morris on the
“Physical and Technographical Characteristics” of the leaves, in the
article, “The Tribute Roll of Montezuma,” edited by Dr. Daniel G.
Brinton, Henry Phillips, Jr., and Dr. J. Cheston Morris, published in
_Transactions of the American Philosophical Society_, vol. XVII, N. S.,
pt. II, art. IV, p. 61, Philadelphia, 1892.
[24] The very important Crónica Mexicana, written by Hernando Alvarado
Tezozomoc, was published by José M. Vigil in his _Biblioteca Mexicana,
Colección Metódica de Obras y Documentos Relativos a la Historia,
Geografía, Literatura, Estadística y Legislación de México_, 1881. The
quotation is from cap. LXXVI, pp. 543-544.
[25] Tezozomoc, op. cit., cap. LXXXIX, p. 600.
[26] Dr. George F. Kunz has kindly placed in our hands his publications
relating to precious stones. In this connection consult his Gems and
Precious Stones, New York, 1892; his important paper, New Observations
on the Occurrences of Precious Stones of Archæological Interest in
America (extrait des _Mémoires et Déliberations du XVᵉ Congrès des
Américanistes tenue à Québec du 10 au 15 Septembre 1906_, Quebec,
1907); and Gems and Precious Stones of Mexico, Mexico, 1907.
[27] The work of Rafael Aguilar y Santillan is entitled Bibliografía
Geológica y Minera de la República Mexicana completada hasta el año de
1904, _Boletín del Instituto Geológico de México_, núm. 17, Mexico,
1908.
[28] The interesting study of Luigi Pigorini describing the Mexican
mosaics in Rome is entitled Gli Antichi Oggetti Messicani Incrostati di
Mosaico esistenti nel Museo Preistorico ed Etnografico di Roma, _Reale
Accademia dei Lincei_, Rome, Anno CCLXXXII, 1884-85, 3ª serie, vol.
XII, pp. 1-9, I pl. with 5 colored illustrations.
[29] The important study by Joseph E. Pogue, The Turquois. A Study of
its History, Mineralogy, Geology, Ethnology, Archæology, Mythology,
Folklore, and Technology, appears as the third memoir of Vol. XII,
_Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences_, Washington, 1915.
[30] Fray Bernardino de Sahagun, Historia General de las Cosas de
Nueva España que en Doce Libros y Dos Volúmenes Escribió el R. P.
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagun, published by Carlos María de Bustamante,
4 vols., Mexico, 1829. Also published by Lord Kingsborough. The
quotations are from the Bustamante edition, tomo III, lib. II, cap.
VII, p. 284, and cap. VIII, pp. 296-297.
[31] On this subject consult the paper by Dr. A. B. Meyer, Die
Nephritfrage, ein ethnologisches Problem, Berlin, 1883, of which
an abstract (“The Nephrite Question”) was published in _American
Anthropologist_, O. S., vol. I, no. 3, Washington, July, 1888.
[32] Saville, A Votive Adze of Jadeite from Mexico, _Monumental
Records_, New York, May, 1900.
[33] Sahagun, op. cit., tomo III, lib. 10, cap. XXIX, p. 107.
[34] Ibid., cap. vii, p. 19.
[35] The pictorial part of the section of the great work of Sahagun
in Florence was reproduced in facsimile by the late Mexican scholar,
Sr. D. Francisco del Paso y Troncoso, for the Mexican government. Only
recently has the work been received in Mexico, and we are under the
greatest obligations to Sr. D. Luis Castillo Ledon, Director of the
Museo Nacional, Mexico, for a copy which we have recently received,
and which has been of such great assistance in the preparation of
this study of Mexican mosaics. It is an Atlas, denominated Vol. V, of
158 estampas (plates). The plates relating to arts and crafts are to
illustrate Libro IX, and include pl. lv to lxxvi.
[36] We refer the student to the edition of Lord Kingsborough, vol. I.
[37] The Mappe Tlotzin once formed a part of the Boturini collection;
it was afterward acquired by Aubin, later by Goupil, and is now in the
National Library in Paris. It has been published in colors (pl. i-iii)
in Mémoires sur la Peinture Didactique et l’Écriture Figurative des
Anciens Méxicains, par J. M. A. Aubin, with an introduction by E. T.
Hamy, Paris, 1885. The pictures referred to are on pl. ii.
[38] Eduard Seler, L’Orfèverie des Anciens Mexicains et leur Art de
Travailler la Pierre et de Faire des Ornements en Plumes, _Compte rendu
de la VIIIᵉᵐᵉ Session du Congrès International des Américanistes_,
Paris, pp. 401-452. The chapter on the art of the lapidaries is on pp.
418-425. The article, with slight changes in the French translation of
the Nahuatl text, and some revision, is included in Seler’s Gesammelte
Abhandlungen zur Amerikanischen Sprach- und Alterthumskunde, Zweiter
Band, pp. 620-663, Berlin, 1904. The section on the lapidaries’ art is
on pp. 635-640.
[39] Sahagun, op. cit., tomo II, lib. 9, cap. XVII, pp. 389-391.
[40] The goddess is figured in the numerous examples of the tonalamatl
in the various codices, of which facsimiles are to be found in all
important libraries.
[41] The Tonalamatl of the Aubin Collection. An Old Mexican Picture
Manuscript in the Paris National Library. Published at the Expense of
his Excellency the Duke of Loubat. With Introduction and Explanatory
Text by Dr. Eduard Seler. Berlin and London, 1900-1901, p. 115.
[42] The Codex Borbonicus is in the National Library, Paris. It was
published in exact facsimile, with an introduction by Dr. E. T.
Hamy, Paris, 1899. The scene referred to is on p. 18 of the Paris
reproduction.
[43] The important Codex Telleriano Remensis was published in
facsimile, with an introduction by E. T. Hamy, by the Duke of Loubat,
Paris, 1899. The illustration referred to is on p. 22 verso, of the
plates.
[44] Seler, op. cit. (Note 41), p. 118.
[45] Kingsborough, vol. VI, p. 129.
[46] Sahagun, see reproduction of Troncoso, estampa x, fig. 34.
[47] Codex Borbonicus, p. 18.
[48] Tonalamatl Aubin, op. cit., pl. 18.
[49] Seler, op. cit., pp. 114-118.
[50] This quotation is from the Libro de Oro y Tesoro Indico, a
precious manuscript in the library of the late Joaquín García
Icazbalceta. Icazbalceta writes as follows about the author: “We do not
know who was Fr. Andrés de Alcobiz, who in the year 1543 collected in
Spain these laws of the Mexicans. It is published in _Nueva Colección
de Documentos para la Historia de México_, tomo III, p. 313, Mexico,
1891.
[51] Saville, Goldsmith’s Art in Ancient Mexico, p. 119.
[52] Anonymous Conqueror, translated by Marshall H. Saville,
publication of the Cortes Society, no. I, pp. 65-67, New York, 1917.
[53] Obras Históricas de Don Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl, tomo I,
Historia Chichimeca, cap. XXXVI, p. 180, published in Mexico in 1892
under the editorship of Dr. Alfredo Chavero.
[54] We refer here to the labors of Mexican archeologists begun by
Leopoldo Batres, and continued by Dr. Manuel Gamio. An elaborate work,
edited by Gamio, treating of the exploration of this region, has just
been printed in Mexico.
[55] Sahagun, op. cit., tomo III, lib. 10, cap. XXIX, p. 107.
[56] Ibid., tomo I, lib. 3, cap. XII, p. 255.
[57] Saville, The Cruciform Structures of Mitla and Vicinity, _Putnam
Anniversary Volume_, p. 187, New York, 1909.
[58] Relación de Andrés de Tapia, published for the first time by
Icazbalceta in _Colección de Documentos para la Historia de México_,
tomo II, pp. 582-583, Mexico, 1866.
[59] The Relación de Texcoco was written by Juan Bautista Pomar, a
mestizo, and a grandson of the Texcocan king Nezahualpitzintli on his
mother’s side. It was composed for Philip II, and belongs to the class
of Relations like those of Yucatan, etc. It was first published by
Icazbalceta in his _Nueva Colección de Documentos para la Historia de
México_, tomo II. The quotation is from p. 10.
[60] Bernal Díaz, op. cit., vol. II, book VI, chap. xcii, p. 74.
[61] Ibid., chap. CIV, p. 138.
[62] Tezozomoc, op. cit., cap. LXXXVI, p. 592.
[63] Ibid., cap. LXXXVII, p. 593.
[64] Sahagun, op. cit., tomo I, lib. I, cap. XIII, p. 18.
[65] Pomar, op. cit., pp. 8-9.
[66] Seler, Altmexikanische Studien, Ein Kapitel aus dem Geschichtswerk
des P. Sahagun. _Sonderabzug der Veröffentlichungen aus dem Königlichen
Museum für Völkerkunde_, I, 4, p. 123, Berlin, 1890.
[67] Anonymous Conqueror, op. cit., p. 22.
[68] Sahagun, op. cit., tomo III, lib. 8, cap. IX, p. 289.
[69] Antonio Peñafiel, Indumentaria Antigua Vestidos Guerreros y
Civiles de los Mexicanos, pl. 149, Mexico, 1903.
[70] The Codex Coxcatzin has been published in part by Eugène Boban
in _Documents pour Servir à l’Histoire du Méxique_, Atlas, pl. 41-45,
Paris, 1891.
[71] Tezozomoc, op. cit., cap. LXI, p. 469; cap. LXIX, pp. 506-507.
[72] Diego Duran, Historia de las Indias de Nueva-España y Islas de
Tierra Firme, tomo I, cap. LI, p. 407, Mexico, 1867.
[73] Tezozomoc, op. cit., cap. CI, p. 659.
[74] Anonymous Conqueror, op. cit., p. 22.
[75] Thomas Unett Brocklehurst, Mexico To-day, pl. XXXIV, London, 1883.
[76] See Saville, Exploration of Zapotecan Tombs in Southern Mexico,
_American Anthropologist_, N. S., vol. I, pp. 350-362, April, 1899;
and Funeral Urns from Oaxaca, _American Museum Journal_, vol. IV, pp.
49-69, New York, 1904.
[77] Saville, Goldsmith’s Art in Ancient Mexico, pp. 151-163, pl. i,
viii.
[78] Manuel Gamio, Los Monumentos Arqueológicos de las Inmediaciones
de Chalchihuites, Zacatecas, sobretiro del tomo II de los _Anales del
Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Historia y Etnología_, pp. 467-492,
5 plans, 8 pl., Mexico, 1910. This is the first piece of work by
Gamio, and presents the results of the first important archeological
exploration undertaken in this part of Mexico.
[79] We have just received the first number (Jan.-Feb., 1922) of
tomo I, época 4ª, of the _Anales del Museo Nacional de Arqueología,
Historia y Etnografía_ of Mexico, which have long been interrupted. In
it is announced the forthcoming appearance of a paper relating to this
subject, “Máscara con Mosaicos de Turquesas.--Dictámenes Periciales.”
It is to be hoped that the authenticity of this object will be cleared
of all suspicion by the proposed study.
[80] On this subject consult Saville, Precolumbian Decoration of the
Teeth in Ecuador, etc., _American Anthropologist_, N. S., vol. 15,
1913; reprinted as _Contributions from the Heye Museum_, vol. I, no. 2,
1913.
[81] David Casares, A Notice of Yucatan with Some Remarks on its Water
Supply, _Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society_, pp. 207-230,
Oct., 1905.
[82] Diego de Landa, Historia de las Cosas de Yucatan, edition of Juan
de Dios de la Rada y Delgado, p. 84, Madrid, 1881.
[83] Casares, op. cit., p. 226.
[84] William H. Holmes, Archeological Studies among the Ancient Cities
of Mexico, _Anthropological Series, Field Columbian Museum_, vol. I,
no. 1, Chicago, 1895. Part I, Monuments of Yucatan, Section on Chichen
Itza, p. 137.
[85] Seler, Codex Vaticanus No. 3773. Elucidation published at the
expense of the Duke of Loubat, Berlin and London, 1902-1903. In this
study Seler treats at length of the God Xipe Totec.
[86] Sahagun, op. cit., tomo I, lib. I, cap. XVIII, p. 28.
[87] The two mosaic masks on the sculptured wall at Chichen Itza
are taken from the drawings on pl. 46 and 47 of the great work of
Alfred P. Maudslay published as part of _Biologia Centrali-Americana:
or Contributions to the Knowledge of the Fauna and Flora of Mexico
and Central America_, edited by F. Ducane Godman and Osbert Salvin.
Archæology, vol. III (Plates). London, 1895-1902. The crowns are from
pl. 38, 49-59. The crown with the feathers is from the doorway column
of Temple A, of the Ball Court.
[88] The first extended study of Mexican turquois mosaics, based
especially on some of the specimens now in the British Museum, was made
by E. T. Stevens and published in his Flint Chips, pp. 324-328, London,
1870. Read’s paper did not appear until 1895.
[89] See Maudslay’s edition of Bernal Díaz, op. cit., vol. I, app.,
pp. 299-302. Maudslay gives photographs of the two wooden masks in the
British Museum, which he calls “Masks of Quetzalcoatl,” and of the
skull mask which he denominates “Mask of Tezcatlipoca.”
[90] See List of Works following.
[91] See translation in Saville, Goldsmith’s Art in Ancient Mexico, pp.
126-127.
[92] See List of Works following.
[93] See List of Works following. Our illustration is a photograph of
the colored lithographic plate of Uhle.
[94] Zelia Nuttall, On Ancient Mexican Shields, _Separat-Abdruck aus
Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie_, Bd. V, 21 pp., Leiden, 1892.
[95] Read, in his study, gives only a drawing of this shield. Our
illustration, a direct photograph, does not show the designs so clearly
as the drawing.
[96] Our illustration is a copy of the photograph published by Heger.
See List of Works following.
[97] Seler, Codex Fejérváry, An Old Mexican Picture Manuscript in
the Liverpool Free Public Museum, published at the Expense of His
Excellency the Duke of Loubat, p. 210, Berlin and London, 1901-1902.
[98] The Codex Nuttall or Zouche was published by the Peabody Museum,
Cambridge, in 1892. The original is now in the British Museum.
[99] On this subject consult the elucidations of Mexican codices by
Seler, published at the expense of the Duke of Loubat. Also, Mexican
and Central American Antiquities, Calendar Systems, and History,
being translations from the German of papers by Seler, Förstemann,
and others, published as _Bulletin 28, Bureau of American Ethnology_,
Washington, 1904. The studies of C. P. Bowditch will be found in his
Numeration, Calendar Systems and Astronomical Knowledge of the Mayas,
Cambridge, Mass., 1910.
[100] Hermann Beyer, El llamado “Calendario Azteca,” Mexico, 1921, an
important study of interpretation of the calendar stone of the Aztecs.
[101] This specimen was first illustrated by Lehmann in his paper, Die
altmexikanischen Mosaiken des Ethnographischen Museums in Kopenhagen,
_Globus_, 1907. Our illustration is a drawing from the photograph
reproduced in this study.
[102] See Note 101.
[103] See Heger, 1892, in List of Works.
[104] Our drawing is from the photograph published by Lehmann in his
paper in the _Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Congress of
Americanists_, Quebec, 1907.
[105] Our drawing of this specimen is made from the illustration
published by Oppel. See List of Works, 1896.
[106] Illustrations of this piece have just been published for the
first time by Lehmann in his Altmexikanische Kunstgeschichte: Ein
Entwurf in Umrissen, Berlin, 1922(?).
[107] See Seler’s remarks to Heger’s paper, List of Works, 1890.
[108] Consult Seler, Altmexikanische Knochenrasseln, _Gesammelte
Abhandlungen_, Zweiter Band, pp. 672-694, Berlin, 1904; also Lumholtz,
Unknown Mexico, vol. ii, pp. 428-430, New York, 1902.
[109] As Colini’s paper is not easily consulted, we append his
description of these three Mexican wooden objects:
“L’idolo, a guisa di figura umana, è alto m.o. 45 [17¾ inches high].
La testa è molto grande, senza alcuna proporzione con le altre
parti del corpo ed è sormontana da un ornamento. La faccia conserva
ancora traccie del rosso con cui era colorita, il naso è piccolo ma
largo e schiacciato, gli occhi sono incavature ovali ed hanno sotto
tre incisioni circolari, come se si fossero volute rappresentare
le occhiaje di persona vecchia o malata. Anche vicino agli angoli
della bocca, poco sopra, sono incise due linee oblique, riempite di
bianco, quasi a guisa di rughe. Tiene le braccia sollevate con le
mani sull’ornamento della testa, ma le altre parti del corpo non sono
affatto distinte. Posa sopra una base decorata con incisioni colorite
in bianco, di cui manca però una parte, cosicché non è possibile
comprendere pienamente la sua forma primitiva, la quale sembra che
fosse rettangolare. In ogni modo era troppo sottile per sostenere
l’idolo, e perciò dobbiamo credere che facesse parte di un apparecchio
più complicato.
“Delle maschere l’una (V. Tav. in fine, fig. 2) nel tipo e
nell’espressione somiglia a quella incrosta di mosaico, descritta da
Ulisse Aldrovandi la quale oggi si conserva nel Museo Etnografico
Nazionale di Roma [6⅞ inches high]. Il naso è lungo, sottile ed
arcuato; ma non essendo incavato nell’interno, la maschera non potrebbe
adattarsi faccia. Gli occhi consistono in rozze aperture ovali, sotto
le quali, a breve distanza, sono incisi due profondi solchi, a guisa
di semicerchi, come nell’idolo. Intorno la fronte, sopra la radice
del naso, corre una larga fascia in rilievo. Fra le labbra inferiore
allungate, esce la lingua, che si ripiega sul mento: della parte
inferiore non è possibile formarsi un concetto perchè è stata tagliata.
Conserva qua e là le traccie della tinta rossa, ma sono meno evidenti
che nell’idoli. Sulla fascia della fronte, nella lingua e sul naso
possono ancora notarsi delle linee incise, riempite di materia bianca.
“L’altra maschera (tav., fig. I) è lavorata con maggiore cura
[7⅛ inches high]: ha la faccia simmetrica nelle varie parti e
proporzionata. Le labbra sono piccole, ma, quello inferiore essendo
rotto, non è possibile indovinarne la forma. Ha il naso arcuato, e
largo alla base, ed è internamente incavato in modo che la maschera
potrebbe adattarsi alla faccia, e siccome la bocca, le narici e gli
occhi sono forati, cosi il portatore potrebbe benissimo vedere,
respirare e parlare. Nella parte inferiore delle occhiaje, agli
angoli, si notano due piccole incavature ad arco, la cui forma
farebbe supporre che vi fossero adattati pezzi di madreperla a guisa
di occhi, come in quelle del Museo Christy. In generale i lineamente
mostrano quella espressione placida e contemplativa, che, secondo il
Tylor, e caratteristica dei lavori aztechi e degli egiziani, tanto
se si riguardano le massiccie sculture in pietra, quanto le piccole
teste di terracotta. Ambedue queste maschere, nella parte superiore
corrispondente alla fronte, hanno fori nei quali forse s’immettevano
cordoncini per sospenderle: la prima ne ha due grandi agli angoli,
l’altra quattro più piccoli intorno.” (See note under List of Works,
1885.)
[110] D. I. Bushnell, Jr., Two Ancient Mexican Atlatls, _American
Anthropologist_, N. S., vol. 7, no. 2, 1905; also North American
Ethnographical Material in Italian Collections, _ibid._, vol. 8, 1906.
[111] See Note 94.
[112] Fr. Toribio Motolinia, Historia de los Indios de Nueva
España, Tratado Tercero, cap. XX, pp. 247-249, edition published by
Icazbalceta, _Colección de Documentos para la Historia de México_, tomo
1, Mexico, 1858.
[113] Consult Frederick Starr, The Little Pottery Objects of Lake
Chapala, Mexico, _Bulletin II, Department of Anthropology, University
of Chicago_, Chicago, 1897.
[114] An important summary of these discoveries has recently been
published by Gamio; see Las Excavaciones del Pedregal de San Angel y
la Cultura Arcaica del Valle de Mexico, _American Anthropologist_,
N. S., vol. 22, no. 2, 1920. Also the paper of Hermann Beyer, Sobre
Antigüedades del Pedregal de San Angel, _Memorias de la Sociedad
Científica “Antonio Alzate” de México_, tomo 37, núm. 8, Oct., 1917;
and Ramon Mena, El Hombre de “El Pedregal” de San Angel, _Escuela
Naciona, Preparatoria Curso de 1918_.
LIST OF WORKS DESCRIBING MEXICAN MOSAICS
1648
ALDROVANUS, ULYSSES. Musæum metallicum. Bologna.
In this work are a brief description (p. 550) and illustrations of two
of the specimens now in the Museum in Rome, namely, one of the knife
handles (our pl. XXXIX), and the mask (our pl. VIII). This book is vol.
XIII of the fourteen volumes of the _Opera Omnia_ of Aldrovanus, issued
in 1602-1668.
1861
TYLOR, E. B. Anahuac: or Mexico and the Mexicans, ancient and modern.
London.
See pp. 110, 235, 337-339, I fig. Dr. Tylor illustrates the knife with
handle in the figure on p. 101. In the appendix (pp. 337-339), article
V is a “Description of three very rare specimens of ancient Mexican
mosaic work (in the collection of Henry Christy, Esq.).” These objects
are now in the British Museum.
1866
BRASSEUR DE BOURBOURG, E., and WALDECK, F. Palenque et autres ruines de
l’ancienne civilisation du Mexique. Collection de vues, bas-reliefs,
morceaux d’architecture, coupes, vases, terre cuites, cartées et plans,
dessinés d’après nature et relevés par M. de Waldeck. Texte rédigé par
M. Brasseur de Bourbourg.... Ouvrage publié sous les auspices de S.
E. M. le Ministre de l’instruction publique. Paris. Arthur Bertrand,
Editeur. Plates. Monuments anciens du Mexique.
Describes (p. VIII) and illustrates in color (pl. XLIII, XLIV) the
mosaic-handled knife and mosaic skull mask formerly in the Hertz
collection, now in the British Museum.
1867
LÉOUZON LE DUC, L. Rapport sur les antiquités mexicaines conservées à
Copenhague. _Archives de la Commission Scientifique du Mexique_, Tome
III. Paris.
Two Mexican mosaics in the Copenhagen Museum are described (tome III,
pp. 157-158), as follows:
“Voici maintenant trois pièces qui, à mon avis, méritent une attention
toute particulière.
“D’abord, une tête d’alligator, de 19 centimètres de longueur. Cette
tête est sculptée en bois et creusée par derrière. La gueule de
l’alligator est largement ouverte et ses mâchoires encadrent une tête
humaine fixée au fond du palais.
“Ensuite, une tête d’idole, également sculptée en bois et évidée
intérieurement, avec une coiffure très-élevée et évasée au sommet,
d’une hauteur totale, y compris la tête, de 24 centimètres. La bouche
de l’idole est vaste, ses lèvres fortement tendues découvrent une
double rangée de longues dents; ses oreilles sont ornées de pendelogues.
“Ces deux pièces offrent cette singularité remarquable qu’elles sont
garnies en partie, et ont dû l’avoir été en entier, de petits fragments
d’os la plupart quadrangulaires, blanc ou teints en vert, en rouge et
en noir, fixés sur le bois à l’aide d’une espèce de résine, ce qui leur
donne l’aspect d’une mosaïque. Fort endommagées, elles n’ont guère
conservé d’intacts que les yeux, dont les prunelles sont formées d’os
blancs, noirs et rouges, et entourées d’un cordon d’os verts. L’état
du bois qui les compose suffrirait à lui seul pour établir leur haute
antiquité, si déjà leur caractère symbolique ne la rendait évidente.
L’une et l’autre out été achetées à Rome, où l’on suppose qu’elles
avaient été apportées de Mexico par un missionnaire.”
1869
SQUIER, E. G. Observations on a collection of chalchihuitls from
Central America. _Annals of the New York Lyceum of Natural History_,
vol. IX, August, article XIV, pp. 252-253, fig. I.
The mosaic skull in the British Museum is illustrated, after Waldeck.
1870
STEVENS, EDWARD T. Flint chips. A guide to prehistoric archæology,
as illustrated by the collection in the Blackmore Museum, Salisbury.
London.
Aztec mosaic work, pp. 324-328. Describes specimens in the Christy
collection.
1880
STEINHAUER, C. L. Das Königliche Ethnographische Museum zu Copenhagen.
Hand-catalog für die Besuchenden. Copenhagen.
Describes (p. 19) the two mosaics in the Copenhagen Museum. In the 1866
edition the description is on p. 22.
1883
BROCKLEHURST, THOMAS UNETT. Mexico to-day: a country with a great
future, and a glance at the prehistoric remains and antiquities of the
Montezumas. London.
Describes (p. 184) and reproduces in colors (pl. XXXIII) the
human-skull mask in the British Museum. Pl. XXXIV illustrates the
goddess Coatlicue, showing the turquois-mosaic in colors--the specimen
to which Peñafiel refers, vide 1903. See our pl. II.
1885
COLINI, G. A. Collezioni etnografiche del Museo Borgiano. _Bollettino
della Società Geografica Italiana_, Roma, Anno XIX, vol. XXII; serie
II, vol. X, pp. 316-325, 914-932.
In this article Colini (pp. 324-325) describes two masks and an idol
in the Museo Borgiano in Rome. Regarding these specimens he quotes
from Vitæ Synopsis Stephani Borgiæ, S. R. E. Cardinalis amplissimi,
S. Congr. de Propaganda Fide Præfecti, Roma, 1805, p. 44, “Classis
mexicana: multa lignea et testacea idolorum simulacra forma et figura
singulari, ac gente mexicanæ propia.” He describes the idol as being
made of wood in the form of a human figure, 45 cm. high. The two masks
of wood are described, and figured on the plate containing drawings
of other American antiquities. It is highly probable that these three
objects were formerly decorated with mosaic.
PIGORINI, LUIGI. Gli antichi oggetti Messicani incrostati di mosaico
esistenti nel Museo Preistorico ed Ethnografico di Roma. _Reale
Accademia dei Lincei_, Anno CCLXXXII, 1884-1885. 9 pp., I pl. with 5
colored figs.
BASTIAN, A. Zwei altmexikanische Mosaiken. _Verhandlungen der Berliner
Gesellschaft für Anthropologie_, p. 201.
1888
BASTIAN, A., and UHLE, MAX. Schädelmaske von Mexico und Analogien
aus der Südsee. _Veröffentlichungen aus dem Königlichen Museum für
Völkerkunde, Herausgegeben von der Verwaltung_, Berlin, Oct.
A description (pp. 2-3) and colored illustration (T. I., I) of the
mosaic-skull mask in the Berlin Museum.
ANDREE, RICHARD. Die altmexikanischen Mosaiken. _Beitrage zur
Ethnographie von Amerika aus dem Internationalen Archiv für
Ethnographie._ Leiden.
Brief notice (p. 8) of the specimen in Gotha.
1889
ANDREE, RICHARD. Ethnographische Parallelen und Vergleiche. Neue Folge.
Leipzig.
Description (pp. 127-130) of the mosaic specimen in Gotha.
1890
PEÑAFIEL, ANTONIO. Monumentos del arte Mexicano antiguo. Berlin.
Description (Text, p. 23) and illustration in colors (Atlas, pl. 123)
of the knife with mosaic handle in the British Museum.
ANDREE, RICHARD. Sur une ancienne mosaique mexicaine. _Congrès
International des Américanistes, Compte-rendu de la septième session_,
Berlin, 1888. Berlin.
Describes the Gotha specimen (pp. 146-148).
HEGER, FRANZ. Sur quelques objets archéologiques du Mexique et
de l’Amérique du Sud. _Congrès International des Américanistes,
Compte-rendu de la septième session_, Berlin, 1888, pp. 93-97.
The author describes (p. 94) one of the mosaic pieces in the Vienna
Museum. In the discussion of this paper, Seler (p. 104) identifies the
animal-like figure as representing the god Xolotl.
1892
PI Y MARGIL, FRANCISCO. Historia de la América antecolombiana. Tomo
primero, segunda parte. Barcelona.
Two colored illustrations (opposite p. 1214) of the mosaic-handled
knife in the British Museum.
HEGER, FRANZ. Altmexikanische Reliquien aus dem Schlosse Ambras in
Tirol. _Annalen des K. K. Naturhistorischen Hofmuseums_, B. VII, Heft
4, pp. 310-400, pl. XVIII, XXII. Vienna.
In this paper Dr. Heger describes and illustrates the shield and animal
head (three views) of turquois mosaic in the Vienna Museum.
1895
READ, CHARLES HERCULES. On an ancient Mexican head-piece coated with
mosaic. _Archæologia_, vol. LIV, 16 pp., pl. XXVIII, fig. 1-6, London.
Gives in colors and describes for the first time the mosaic head-piece,
and illustrates all but one of the eight other pieces, in the British
Museum.
1896
OPPEL, A. Die altmexikanischen Mosaiken. _Globus_, Bd. LXX, Nr. 1
(June), pp. 4-12, 15 fig., Braunschweig.
Figures seven mosaic pieces in the British Museum, five pieces in Rome,
one piece in Berlin, a piece in Gotha, and a section of the shield in
Vienna.
1903
PEÑAFIEL, ANTONIO. Indumentaria Antigua Mexicana. Vestidos Guerreros y
Civiles de los Mexicanos. Mexico.
Dr. Peñafiel, in chapter XXIII, under the heading “Incrustaciones
de Mosaico,” describes some of the mosaic pieces in Europe which he
states are the most important specimens. “Of this class of works the
Museo Nacional (Mexico) can count as having only one, in the statue
of Coatlicue coming from Tehuacan.” On pl. 26 are given the British
Museum knife, and the two knife-handles in Rome; on pl. 117 one of the
masks in Rome; on pl. 118(A) the skull mask in Berlin, and (B) the mask
in Rome; pl. 123 is the femur musical instrument in Rome; and pl. 168
restorations of the knife-handle specimens with blades, in Rome. These
illustrations are all in colors, excepting the last.
1906
BUSHNELL, DAVID I., Jr. North American ethnographical material
in Italian museums. _American Anthropologist_, N. S., vol. VIII,
Lancaster, Pa.
On pp. 245-246 the author briefly describes the five mosaic pieces in
Rome, and regarding one of the masks (our pl. VII, _a_) quotes from the
inventory of the Guardaroba Medicea, 1553, showing the specimen to have
been in the Medici collection.
LEHMANN, WALTER. Altmexikanische Mosaiken und die Geschenke König
Motecuzomas und Cortés. _Globus_, Bd. XV, Nr. 20, pp. 318-322,
Braunschweig, 29 Nov.
In this study Lehmann enumerates the twenty-three Mexican mosaic pieces
in European museums and gives considerable documentary material from
the early chroniclers.
1907
KUNZ, GEORGE FREDERICK. Gems and precious stones of Mexico. Mexico.
On pp. 7-10, Dr. Kunz discusses turquois and describes some of the
turquois mosaic specimens in European museums. On p. 52 he concludes
that “it must be considered as possible, at least, that other
localities containing turquois were once known, and may be hereafter
re-discovered.”
LEHMANN, WALTER. Altmexikanische Mosaiken in Kgl. Museum für
Völkerkunde zu Berlin. _Congrès International des Américanistes, XVᵉ
Session, tenue à Quebec en 1906_, tome II, pp. 339-349, 4 fig., Quebec.
Describes and illustrates two pieces of Mexican mosaics in the
Ethnographical Museum of Berlin, a double-jaguar figure, and a jaguar
head. The first came from the estate of Alexander von Humboldt, the
second was transferred to the Berlin Museum from the Ducal Museum of
Braunschweig.
LEHMANN, WALTER. Die altmexikanischen Mosaiken des Ethnographischen
Museums in Kopenhagen. _Globus_, Bd. XCI, Nr. 21, pp. 332-335, 6 June,
1907. Abb. I-III.
The author describes and figures the two pieces in Copenhagen, giving
front and side views, and two different drawings of one of the masks in
Rome.
1908
DÍAZ DEL CASTILLO, BERNAL. (Maudslay, A. P., translator and editor.)
The true history of the conquest of New Spain. Edition of the Hakluyt
Society, vol. I, London.
Under the title “Montezuma’s Gifts to Cortés,” Maudslay describes
(Appendix, pp. 299-302) and illustrates (pl. 13-16) the three mosaic
masks in the British Museum. Pl. 16 is a rear view of the skull mask
showing the leather strap by which it was attached to the head. This
mask Maudslay identifies as probably that of Tezcatlipoca, and the
other two as belonging to Quetzalcoatl.
1910
GAMIO, MANUEL. Los monumentos arqueológicos de las inmediaciones de
Chalchihuites, Zacatecas. _Anales del Museo Nacional de Arqueología,
Historia y Etnología_, tome II, pp. 469-492, pls. 1-8, Mexico.
On pl. 8 are figured two pieces of mosaic-work found in the ruins near
Chalchihuites.
BLACKISTON, A. HOOTON. Recent discoveries in Honduras. _American
Anthropologist_, N. S., vol. 12, Lancaster, Pa.
Describes (p. 539) and illustrates (pl. XLVI) the mosaic wooden mask
found in 1908 in a cave in an arroyo on the headwaters of a small
stream flowing into the Rio Chamelecon, about 25 miles distant from the
ruins of the ancient city of Naco. This specimen is now in the Museum
of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. See our pl. XVII.
1912
JOYCE, T. A. A short guide to the American antiquities in the British
Museum. London.
Joyce describes (p. 14) and illustrates (figs. 12-17) six of the mosaic
pieces in the British Museum.
1914
JOYCE, T. A. Mexican archæology. An introduction to the archæology of
the Mexican and Mayan civilizations of pre-Spanish America. New York
and London.
In pl. I is reproduced in colors the skull mask, and in pl. XVIII, fig.
1, the knife with handle. Reference to these is made on p. 141.
HOLMES, W. H. Masterpieces of aboriginal American art. II. Mosaic
work, minor examples. _Art and Archæology_, vol. I, no. 3, Washington,
November.
A description (pp. 91-102) of some of the more important specimens of
mosaics, with colored frontispiece and 9 figures.
1915
POGUE, JOSEPH E. The turquoise. A study of its history, mineralogy,
geology, ethnology, archæology, mythology, folklore, and technology.
_Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences_, vol. XII, part II, third
memoir, Washington.
Mexican mosaics are described on pp. 93-97; fig. 4 illustrates the bird
mask in Gotha; pl. 15-17, Mexican mosaics in the British Museum and in
Rome (10 pieces). The Use of Turquois in Mexico and Central America:
Use as Attested by Historical Evidence, pp. 90-92; Use as Attested by
Objects, pp. 93-97.
1921
ARREOLA, JOSÉ MARÍA. Como legítima el Museo Nacional ha adquirido una
pieza falsificada. _El Excelsior_, Mexico, Oct. 20.
Illustrates in this signed newspaper article a stone mask with turquois
mosaic decoration said to have been found in Guerrero. He concludes
that it is fraudulent.
LEHMANN, WALTER. Altmexikanische Kunstgeschichte ein Entwurf in
Umrissen. Band 8 des Orbis Pictus. Weltkunst-Bücherei herausgegeben von
Paul Westheim. Berlin.
In this short study of old Mexican art history Dr. Lehmann illustrates
a number of notable Mexican antiquities. The Xolotl figure in Vienna
is illustrated, front and side views, pl. 7, and the crouching animal
figure in the British Museum is given on pl. 8. He gives brief
descriptions in the description of plates on pp. 22-23.
1922
GAMIO, MANUEL. Una máscara de mosaico falsificada. [A counterfeit
mosaic mask.] _Ethnos_, tomo I, núms. 8-12, pp. 260-264, Mexico, Nov.
1920-Mar. 1921.
Gamio denounces as fraudulent the stone mosaic mask claimed to have
been discovered in Guerrero by Porfirio Aguirre.
MENA, RAMON. La arqueología debe de estar en manos de arqueológicos.
_El Universal_, Mexico, April 2.
In this signed newspaper article Mena defends the authenticity of the
stone mask decorated with turquois mosaic, said to have been found in
Guerrero.
Transcriber’s Notes:
Italics are shown thus: _sloping_.
Small capitals have been capitalised.
Variations in spelling and hyphenation are retained.
Punctuation has been retained as published.
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