Page 564 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

example, the face is enclosed in an enormous bird This enormous serpent head, which was dis-
mask. The neck has a spike that fits into the next covered in the nineteenth century near the
piece comprising part of the chest and the plumed cathedral in Mexico City, probably formed part of
arms. It is possible that the hands once held a the wall of the sacred enclosure at the very center
wooden weapon. The third piece, forming the of Mexico-Tenochtitlan. When the Spaniards
belly and the thighs, in turn fits into the two legs, arrived in the Valley of Mexico in the sixteenth
each decorated with the claws of the bird and century, this enclosure had a quadrangular floor
showing the warrior's feet with sandals. like an enormous patio that probably measured
This piece shows the great skill of the Aztec four hundred meters (1,300 feet) per side.
ceramists who gave an impressive appearance to According to the descriptions of the conquistadors
the figure. The sculpture symbolizes the impor- ana early chroniclers, it was enclosed by a wall,
tance of the warrior in a society that depended to both defensive and symbolic in function, deco-
a great extent on military control over tributary rated with sculpted stone serpent heads, the coat-
regions. E.M.M. epantli. This walled enclosure had three entrances
facing south, north, and west, which led to the
paved causeways joining the city with the main-
land. The wall of serpents marked the boundaries
of the sacred land, where the Great Temple, repre-
senting the hill of the serpents in the Aztec crea-
tion myth, rose and where the sun was born.
386 These menacing stone reptiles were also intended
COLOSSAL RATTLESNAKE HEAD as the protectors and guardians of the deities.
The sculptors captured the power that emanates
Aztec from the rattlesnake. The poisonous snake not
basalt only has a double pair of fangs at the sides, but
3
103 x 108 x 157 (qoVz x 42^2 x 6i A) also a row of four more in front and a forked
reference: Nicholson 1983, 131 tongue. The reptile has its nasal cavities marked,
CNCA—INAH—MEX, Museo Nacional de its head covered with scales, and enormous eye-
Antropologia, Mexico City brows over the circular eyes. F.S.

387

TLALOC

Mixtec
greenstone
2
2
2
39.5 x 11 x 10.5 (i5 /2 x 4 /4 x 4 /8)
CNCA—INAH—MEX, Museo Templo Mayor,
Mexico City
This image of Tlaloc, god of rain, which was found
in the Great Temple of Mexico-Tenochtitlan,
comes from the Mixteca region of Oaxaca. This
area was under Aztec military control, since it was
rich in greenstone, which was so valuable in the
pre-Hispanic world. It is therefore not surprising
to find objects made of that stone in the Great
Temple, where all the economic, political, and
religious power of the Aztecs lay. E. M. M.

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