Page 541 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

THE AZTEC EMPIRE
By the late fifteenth century the Aztecs had on their vassal states assured a constant flow of Europe, much of Aztec art is religious: sculp-
created one of the most glittering civilizations goods, including luxury items, into the capital. tures of various deities, priestly paraphernalia,
of pre-Columbian America. Their achievement Tenochtitlan itself, built on a series of islands in and pictographic manuscripts that can still be
was of relatively recent origin in the long chro- a lake, was one of the world's greatest and most read. The function of the remarkably naturalis-
nology of Mesoamerican culture. About two populous cities in 1492. It suggested the mar- tic representations of plants and animals is
hundred years before, the tribe that called itself vels of Venice to the band of provincial Span- unclear; they may have been intended for
Mexica had arrived in the Valley of Mexico iards who arrived there, led by Herndn Cortes, public monuments or for private collections.
after a long migration from the north. The in 1519. Luxurious works in gold, exotic feathers, and
Aztecs established their capital of Tenochtitlan The city was demolished in the course of the turquoise mosaic were created for the use of the
on the site of present-day Mexico City and, struggle with the Spanish forces, who were nobility and the royal house. In this very mili-
excellent soldiers from the start, gradually joined by a number of the Aztecs' traditional taristic society an entire class of objects is asso-
extended their control over a sizable empire. In enemies. Countless works of art were destroyed ciated with battle and with the cult of human
the course of their march to power, they assimi- or buried forever beneath the modern Mexican sacrifice; it was believed that the blood of
lated the deities of the cultures they conquered, capital. Nevertheless, enough has survived to human victims —who in practice were princi-
and their religion attained a formidable com- provide us with a vivid picture of this extraordi- pally war captives —was needed to nourish the
plexity. A complicated system of tribute levied nary culture. As is the case in contemporary gods and ensure the continuation of human life.

356

CODEX FEJERVARY-MAYER tree), as they "used to have places designated for omnipresent Tezcatlipoca ("smoking mirror") is
their tiangues [markets], where they gather for also visible. His attributes — head, one arm, one
c. 1400-1521 transactions, fairs and exchanges, and they have foot, and bones — are evident, associated with the
Aztec or Mixtec there two, three or four ceiba trees to provide four cosmic directions.
paint on animal skin overpainted with gesso shade; and in several plazas two, three, four ceibas Tezcatlipoca is lord of the everywhere and also
each page 17.5 x 17.5, total length 404 are sufficient to give shade to one or two thou- he who introduces motion, life, and time into the
7
7
(6 /s x 6 /s x 159) sand people" (Oviedo y Valdes 1851-1855,1:345). world. From his head, arm, foot, and bones issue
reference: Leon-Portilla 1985 Several indigenous sources provide information four streams of blood, the source of life, converg-
The Board of Trustees of the National Museums about the pochteca, who operated in groups and ing toward the center of the image where the
and Galleries on Mersey side, Liverpool Museum, had their headquarters in important Aztec towns old fire god, also lord of time, resides. The four
12014 Mayer such as Tlatelolco, Tochtepec in present-day cosmic regions are the stage on which time, desti-
Oaxaca, and Xicalanco on the Gulf coast. The nies, and life interact. The z6o-day count of desti-
The Codex Fejervdry-Mayer, which received its Florentine Codex describes, in the Nahuatl nies is twice registered, encompassing everything
title from the names of two of its former owners, language, the special feasts and ceremonies that exists in the four cosmic regions. For the
is a pre-Hispanic book of forty-four pages made of performed by the pochteca, both before they pochteca, who marched to distant parts of Meso-
folded strips of animal hide. Aside from its beauty departed on commercial enterprises and when america, here was a complex message. To arrange
and its excellent state of preservation, it is espe- they returned. one's affairs successfully, one had to learn the
cially interesting because of its unique subject Early texts also provide ample information meanings of the days in their relation to the
matter. Whereas most of the small number of pre- about the titular gods of the pochteca and the way cosmic regions.
Hispanic codices that have come down to us the merchants conducted their affairs, always con-
appear to have been prepared for the use of sulting the special books they owned, known as
priests, the Codex Fejervdry-Mayer reflects the the tonalamatl ("books of the days and desti-
special concerns of the pochteca, the Nahua long- nies"), which were arranged in accordance with
distance merchants. the z6o-day astrological count. Consulting these
Since at least the classic period in Mesoamerica books, the pochteca determined the most propi-
(the first to ninth centuries A.D.), wealthy mer- tious days to depart on ventures, to celebrate and
chants operated along permanent routes of trade. thank their gods for the profits they made, or to
Some of them went back and forth with their perform the funerary rites for their deceased col-
goods from central Mexico to distant places in leagues, those who may have been attacked and
Oaxaca, Guatemala, and the fringes of the Yuca- murdered on the road.
tan Peninsula. Others traveled in their boats along The present work is such a tonalamatl. Its first
the Caribbean shores. Their trade included both page contains an image of the world. The four
raw materials and manufactured objects: precious cosmic regions are represented with the glyphs
stones, amber, bundles of cacao, tiger skins, feath- denoting the east, north, west, and south. In the
ers, live birds and beasts, and also gold and silver center is the old god of fire presiding over the
and jewels, fine clothes, embroideries, ceramics, whole imago mundi. Each of the cosmic regions
copper knives, other utensils, weapons, and has its corresponding color —red, yellow, greenish
musical instruments. The name of these long- blue, and bluish green — and also its own gods, cat. 356, detail of p. 37: Yacatecuhtli Bearing Cross-
distance traders was derived from pochotl (ceiba trees, birds, and other related attributes. The roads

540 CIRCA 1492