1973.47 Bell in Form of Human Head (Mixtec, Monte Alban, Oaxaca, Mexico)

Mixtec artisans were famous for their extraordinarily refined miniature carvings made in a variety of materials, creating objects of virtually perfect design and workmanship. Smaller decorative ornaments were part of the larger elaborate costume accoutrements for nobility—often worn on the face, forehead, arms, legs, and chest—and thus projected both elite status and supernatural power.   

 

Though not the first metal workers in the Americas, the Mixtecs were among the greatest. Cast by the lost-wax method, this copper bell in the form of a human head bears dangling ear ornaments, a filigree beard, and a headdress with distinctive horn-like elements. Mixtec lords tied strips of jaguar skin around their wrists and above their knees, from which dangled copper and gold bells. The sounds of these bells, joined by flutes and the aromas of incense and herbs, altered and controlled the visions of those lords when they made contact with the supernatural. Objects such as these often accompanied the king and other nobility on the journey through death to the otherworld.

Pre-Columbian (American): AAT: 300016619

Mixtec: AAT: 300017180

Mexico (nation): TGN: 7005560

Oaxaca (state): TGN: 7005591

Monte Albán (deserted settlement): TGN: 7007152

Lost-wax process: AAT: 300053113

annealing: AAT: 300053886

chasing (metalworking): AAT: 300054016      

embossing (technique): AAT: 300053826  

repoussé: AAT: 300054023

solder: AAT: 300010993

sheet metal: AAT: 300223016 

metalwork: AAT: 300015336      

hammering (metal finishing): AAT: 300054098

Postclassic (Mesoamerican period): AAT: 300016987

worn costume accessories: AAT: 300209274

jewelry: AAT: 300209286

bells (idiophones): AAT: 300041872

bracelets (jewelry): AAT: 300045991

ceremonial sound devices: AAT: 300312157

green (color): AAT: 300128438

figures (representations): AAT: 300189808

head: AAT: 300262520

faces (animal or human components): AAT: 300251798

face: DMA

human figures: AAT: 300404114

ear ornaments: AAT: 300211279

earrings (jewelry): AAT: 300045998

beards: AAT: 300379263

filigree: AAT: 300220293

masks (costume): AAT: 300138758

headdresses: AAT: 300046023

horns (animal components): AAT: 300400473

jaguar: AAT: 300310389

skin (animal component): AAT: 300400555

sound (acoustics): AAT: 300056060

music (discipline): AAT: 300054146

visions (life events): AAT: 300251603

supernatural (concepts): AAT: 300055947

underworld (doctrinal concept): AAT: 300343823

power: AAT: 300374809

social status: AAT: 300065206

nobility (nobles / aristocracy): AAT: 300025942

n.d: Dr. and Sra. Josué Sáenz, Mexico, D.F. [1], [2]

Until 1973: Edward H. Merrin Gallery, Inc. [1], [2], [3]

From 1973: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene McDermott, the McDermott Foundation, and Mr. and Mrs. Algur H. Meadows and the Meadows Foundation, Incorporated, purchased from the above [1], [2], [3], [4]

[1] The main source for this provenance is existing information in TMS. Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[2] The main source for this provenance is Collections Worksheet (n.d., copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[3] The main source for this provenance is Acquisition Worksheet (dated March 13, 1973, copy in Dallas Museum of Art Collections Records Object File). Exceptions and other supporting documents are noted.

[4] The name of the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, founded in 1933, was changed to the Dallas Museum of Art in 1983.

Apply to objects where number equals 1973.47