Pre-Columbian, Mexico, Aztec Empire, ca. 1400 to 1521 CE. A remarkably preserved and elaborately painted bowl depicting a dancing lord surrounded by a border of repeated trophy heads. The bowl has an integrated round platform foot, ringed with round, wheel-like motifs. The painting style, especially on the interior of the bowl, demonstrates the dense, fractal imagery that made up the Aztec visual language. Rich reds, oranges, browns, and whites within black outlines create the motifs. Polychrome vessels like this one seem to have been reserved for elites, and were often made in the Aztec hinterlands and traded to Tenochtitlan. Size: 8.55" W x 2.95" H (21.7 cm x 7.5 cm)

Why are these trophy heads? The Aztec, like their neighbors the Mixtec and other cultural groups throughout the Valley of Mexico, fought constant wars to acquire prisoners. Captives and sacrificial victims had their heads removed ritually, and these were displayed publicly on specially-built racks called tzompantli. In addition to having real racks of skulls, documented extensively by Spanish chroniclers, Mesoamericans created artwork of disembodied heads that seem to relate to the same idea.

Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex Stuart Gentling collection, Texas, USA, painter of George W. Bush's portrait in the Texas State Capitol

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#132663

Intact! With excellent remaining pigment and light surface wear commensurate with age.