Mixtec teponaztli

Wooden teponaztli, Mixtec, pre-1521 CE, length 42 cms., Museum der Kulturen, Basel, Switzerland.

The carved motif of the two-tone drum is kept in the style of the codices. It shows two people in a bird costume singing and dancing around a central ceremonial object in which they have deposited spikes for blood sacrifices. On the side panels we see the sign for ‘flower’ and ‘song’: in xochitl, in cuicatl, the Nahuatl expression for beautiful song or ceremonial discourse.

From Aztecs, eds. Doris Kurella, Martin Berger and Inés de Castro, with INAH, Mexico - catalogue for the exhibition Azteken, Linden Museum, Stuttgart, Hirmer Publishers, Germany, 2019, p. 322.

Photo by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore.