Funerary urn with lid

Funerary urn with lid, c. 1390 CE, Mexica (Aztec), urn: travertine 16.5 cms high, lid: obsidian, 8 cms high, Templo Mayor Museum, Mexico City.

The relief on this white travertine urn depicts a seated figure with arms bent and his hands resting on his knees. This could be Mictlantecuhtli, the god of death, as he wears a conical headdress with a paper rosette behind it. The urn’s lid is made of obsidian and its spherical body has a hollow centre.
The urn was found at the Templo Mayor, under the floor of the temple of Huitzilopochtli...

From Moctezuma: Aztec Ruler, British Museum Catalogue, 2009, p. 50

Photo by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore.