Page 569 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

lows of the mouth and eyes were evidently crafted
so that they could be inlaid with shell, bone, and
obsidian. The woman's hair is not represented; in
its place, there are grooves that were perhaps used
to insert real hair.
If one carefully observes the whole and then
each part individually, one can see that sculptural
work in Aztec Mexico was not the work of a single
artist but of collective participation. It is evident
that different hands worked on the legs, the torso,
and the face of this figure. F.S.

399
GRASSHOPPER

Aztec
carneolite
16 x 46 x 19 (6l/4 x iSVs x 72/2J
CNCA—INAH— MEX, Museo National de
Antropologia, Mexico City

4OO
In the western part of the ancient Lake of Texcoco,
there is a hill called Chapultepec, which gave its TOAD
name to a beautiful forest. Chapultepec, now a
park, it is one of the few green areas that survive Aztec
stone
in the modern city of Mexico. 19 x 51 x 34 (j/2 x 20 x ij /s)
l
3
The name of the mountain and the forest comes
from the grasshopper, called chapulin in the CNCA—INAH—MEX, Museo National de
Nahuatl language, which is the insect represented Antropologia, Mexico City
in this sculpture in a reddish-colored stone. We
can see how the sculptor made use of the shape of Several pre-Hispanic cultures in Mexico con-
the stone to depict the animal. The chapulin sidered batrachians as the animals that announce
seems to be at the point of jumping, which is how the rainy season, and these amphibians were
these creatures swarm through the fields during therefore associated with Tlaloc, the patron god
the season when they are abundant. Other Aztec of this vital element. In the Great Temple of the
stone sculptures of grasshoppers are known Aztec capital, on the platform in front of the
(Nicholson 1983,117-118), but none as beautiful shrine of Tlaloc is a small altar whose insignia
as this masterpiece. sculptures are two gracious toads. Besides being
According to early legends, Chapultepec was a associated with water, toads were also related to
sacred place that welcomed the Aztecs when they the earth and the underworld, probably because
reached the Valley of Mexico after having passed they live underground. cat. 400, view of underside
through many places in quest of the land, prom-
ised by their god Huitzilopochtli, where they
would found Mexico-Tenochtitlan. The place was
delightful and very green with abundant trees and
vegetation, because in the eastern section of the
mountain there was a permanent spring. Years
after founding their capital, the victorious Aztecs
channeled the spring's valuable water by con-
structing an aqueduct from Chapultepec to
Tenochtitlan and also to Tlatelolco. For this pur-
pose they constructed two parallel ducts, which
entered the Aztec capital from the west through
the paved road of Tlacopan. The two pipelines
allowed them to have one in operation while the
other was being cleaned.
According to tradition, Motecuhzoma Ilhui-
camina, fifth lord of Tenochtitlan, ordered the
construction of reservoirs in Chapultepec. It is
believed that this sculpture comes from these
reservoirs. F.S.

568 CIRCA 1492