Turquoise mosaic bird head mask

Turquoise mosaic bird head mask, length 29 cms., wood, turquoise, spondylus shell, resin, mother-of-pearl, malachite; Mexica/Aztec, c. 1350-1521 CE, Stiftung Schloss Friedenstein, Gotha, Germany

The art of making turquoise mosaics was highly regarded in ancient Mesoamerica. Since its unique shade of blue is very similar to the innermost and hottest part of a blazing flame, turquoise was associated with heat, fire and the sun. The most important turquoise deposits were far outside the Aztec Empire, in the southwest of what is today the United States and in the northwest of Mexico. The best and most important turquoise artists, however, were Mixtecs from the southwest of the Aztec Empire. They probably worked in Tenochtitlan itself, in the ruler’s workshops, where raw turquoise and turquoise stones were processed into artistic mosaics. The mask represents a bird, probably a raven. The wind god Ehecatl always carries a bird’s beak. Two holes, probably used to fix the mask, suggest that it was part of a priest’s costume, worn by a priest embodying the important deity Ehecatl during a ceremony.

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. 314.

Photo by Ian Mursell/Mexicolore.