GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Mixtec artisans excelled at lapidary work and were famous for their extraordinarily refined miniature carvings made in a variety of materials, creating objects of virtually perfect design and workmanship. The Mixtec also created smaller portable ceramic objects depicting a variety of themes, from deities to plants and animals.
This skull effigy vessel exemplifies the burnished fine gray characteristic of Mixtec ceramic wares. Though it appears macabre, it has very little to do with the darkness of death. In Mesoamerica, life and death are part of a continuous cycle of transformation. Skeletal remains embodied the life force and symbolized the seeds of new life and rebirth. For the Mixtec, skeletal images such as this example were not images of death but of fertility and regeneration.
Skull vessels often appear in Mixtec codices as part of the ritual worship of one of the important female deities of the Mixtec pantheon, Lady 9 Grass, who is usually depicted with a skeletal face and associated with death and the fertile earth. Worship ceremonies for the goddess took place in a maize field and involved the offering of blood from two skulls, connecting to the rhythmic cycle of death and fertility, the giving of life. This effigy is the only example of this significant Mesoamerican symbol in the Museum's entire collection.
Drawn from
- Kathy Windrow, DMA unpublished material, 1992.
- DMA unpublished material, 2009.
- Mary Ellen Miller and Karl A. Taube, "Mixtec gods," in The gods and symbols of ancient Mexico and the Maya: an illustrated dictionary of Mesoamerican religion (New York: Thames and Hudson, 1993): 116-117.
NOTES
- Mixtec, Postclassic period, 1000–1250 (noted on TMS), updated by KJones on 02/26/16.
- General Description drawn from: DMA unpublished material [TMS (1990.175; 1970.22.a-b; 1985.150; 1985.151; 1985.152), Notes/Curatorial Remarks, Kathy Windrow, September 1992; TMS (1985.150; 1985.151; 1985.152), Acquisition Justification, April 20, 2009].
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Pre-Columbian (American): AAT: 300016619
Mixtec: AAT: 300017180
Geography
Mexico (nation): TGN: 7005560
Oaxaca (state/Mexico): TGN: 7005591
Process/materials
ceramic (material): AAT: 300235507
clay: AAT: 300010439
paint (coating): AAT: 300015029
glazing (coating): AAT: 300053914
incising: AAT: 300053847
burnishing (polishing): AAT: 30053869
coiling (pottery technique): AAT: 300053903
modeling (forming): AAT: 300053130
slab method (pottery technique): AAT: 300053905
Historical periods
Postclassic (Mesoamerican period): AAT: 300016987
Individuals
Subject terms
ritual objects: AAT: 300312158
ritual vessels: AAT: 300265801
effigies (funerary sculpture): AAT: 300047108
portable: AAT: 300256252
figures (representations): AAT: 300189808
head: AAT: 300262520
faces (animal or human components): AAT: 300251798
skull (skeleton component): AAT: 300191856
skeletons (animal components): AAT: 300191778
eyes (animal or human components): AAT: 300400484
teeth (animal components): AAT: 300400467
supernatural (concepts): AAT: 300055947
deities: AAT: 300343850
Lady 9 Grass (Nine Grass / Qcuañe (Mixtec) / Cihuacoatl (Nahuatl) / Mixtec ancestor deity): DMA
death god (deity): DMA
ritual (events): AAT: 300065284
worship: AAT: 300056005
maize (plant/zea mays species): AAT: 300375398
fields (land): AAT: 300343519
offering (tribute / payment / economic concepts /social science concepts): DMA
bloodletting (self-sacrifice / ritual): DMA
blood: AAT: 300011797
sacrifices: AAT: 300263243
deaths: AAT: 300151836
life (biological concepts): AAT: 300055134
fertility: AAT: 300379149
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
From 1990: Dallas Museum of Art, gift of the Freeman Family Foundation [1], [2]
[1] The main source for this provenance is Acquisition Record (dated October 16, 1990, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[2] The main source for this provenance is letter from Carolyn Tate, Associate Curator of Pre-Columbian Art at the Dallas Museum of Art, to Beverly and Don Freeman (dated October 19, 1990, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
Apply to objects where number equals 1990.175
Category
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General Description
Mixtec artisans excelled at lapidary work and were famous for their extraordinarily refined miniature carvings made in a variety of materials, creating objects of virtually perfect design and workmanship. The Mixtec also created smaller portable ceramic objects depicting a variety of themes, from deities to plants and animals.
This skull effigy vessel exemplifies the burnished fine gray characteristic of Mixtec ceramic wares. Though it appears macabre, it has very little to do with the darkness of death. In Mesoamerica, life and death are part of a continuous cycle of transformation. Skeletal remains embodied the life force and symbolized the seeds of new life and rebirth. For the Mixtec, skeletal images such as this example were not images of death but of fertility and regeneration.
Skull vessels often appear in Mixtec codices as part of the ritual worship of one of the important female deities of the Mixtec pantheon, Lady 9 Grass, who is usually depicted with a skeletal face and associated with death and the fertile earth. Worship ceremonies for the goddess took place in a maize field and involved the offering of blood from two skulls, connecting to the rhythmic cycle of death and fertility, the giving of life. This effigy is the only example of this significant Mesoamerican symbol in the Museum's entire collection.
Drawn from
- Kathy Windrow, DMA unpublished material, 1992.
- DMA unpublished material, 2009.
- Mary Ellen Miller and Karl A. Taube, "Mixtec gods," in The gods and symbols of ancient Mexico and the Maya: an illustrated dictionary of Mesoamerican religion (New York: Thames and Hudson, 1993): 116-117.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
- Mixtec, Postclassic period, 1000–1250 (noted on TMS), updated by KJones on 02/26/16.
- General Description drawn from: DMA unpublished material [TMS (1990.175; 1970.22.a-b; 1985.150; 1985.151; 1985.152), Notes/Curatorial Remarks, Kathy Windrow, September 1992; TMS (1985.150; 1985.151; 1985.152), Acquisition Justification, April 20, 2009].
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Pre-Columbian (American): AAT: 300016619
Mixtec: AAT: 300017180
Geography
Mexico (nation): TGN: 7005560
Oaxaca (state/Mexico): TGN: 7005591
Process/materials
ceramic (material): AAT: 300235507
clay: AAT: 300010439
paint (coating): AAT: 300015029
glazing (coating): AAT: 300053914
incising: AAT: 300053847
burnishing (polishing): AAT: 30053869
coiling (pottery technique): AAT: 300053903
modeling (forming): AAT: 300053130
slab method (pottery technique): AAT: 300053905
Historical periods
Postclassic (Mesoamerican period): AAT: 300016987
Individuals
Subject terms
ritual objects: AAT: 300312158
ritual vessels: AAT: 300265801
effigies (funerary sculpture): AAT: 300047108
portable: AAT: 300256252
figures (representations): AAT: 300189808
head: AAT: 300262520
faces (animal or human components): AAT: 300251798
skull (skeleton component): AAT: 300191856
skeletons (animal components): AAT: 300191778
eyes (animal or human components): AAT: 300400484
teeth (animal components): AAT: 300400467
supernatural (concepts): AAT: 300055947
deities: AAT: 300343850
Lady 9 Grass (Nine Grass / Qcuañe (Mixtec) / Cihuacoatl (Nahuatl) / Mixtec ancestor deity): DMA
death god (deity): DMA
ritual (events): AAT: 300065284
worship: AAT: 300056005
maize (plant/zea mays species): AAT: 300375398
fields (land): AAT: 300343519
offering (tribute / payment / economic concepts /social science concepts): DMA
bloodletting (self-sacrifice / ritual): DMA
blood: AAT: 300011797
sacrifices: AAT: 300263243
deaths: AAT: 300151836
life (biological concepts): AAT: 300055134
fertility: AAT: 300379149
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
From 1990: Dallas Museum of Art, gift of the Freeman Family Foundation [1], [2]
[1] The main source for this provenance is Acquisition Record (dated October 16, 1990, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
[2] The main source for this provenance is letter from Carolyn Tate, Associate Curator of Pre-Columbian Art at the Dallas Museum of Art, to Beverly and Don Freeman (dated October 19, 1990, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File, Confidential). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.
AUDIO ASSETS
VIDEO ASSETS
rules
Apply To
Objects
number
Equals
1990.175
source file
object_notes_3_a-0701.xml.nores