aztec art

Artisans from the Angel Cerón Artisan Association create an original mask that blends elements of both Maya and Aztec art and culture. The face depicts the Sun Jaguar of the underworld seen in an incense burner from the Classic Maya site of Palenque. The mouth makes reference to Chac, the Maya rain god. Covered with skulls, the headdress is an interpretation of the Aztec tzompantli, a rack where the heads of sacrificial victims were displayed as an offering to the gods.

Artisans from the Angel Cerón Artisan Association handcraft a ceramic replica of an Aztec calendar that will make an intriguing conversation piece wherever it is displayed. A replica of the Piedra del Sol, the "sun stone," found in the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, the images in the calendar represent the legend of the fifth sun. According to Mesoamerican cosmology, there were four suns before our current sun, all destroyed, along with the people of the time, by the wrath of the gods. Faithful to the original, the replica is full of intricate detail and painted in warm, earthy yellow, orange, green, and beige. A sueded leather cord makes a loop at the top for easy hanging.

Drawing on a lifelong study of Mexico's pre-Hispanic cultures, artisans from the Angel Cerón Artisan Association create a mask of their own design. It depicts a personage wearing a feathered headdress surrounded by small human skulls. "This mask is based on the cult of death," the artisans say. "In the month of August, the Aztecs celebrated the festival of the dead when loved ones were honored and remembered. It was called Miccailhuitonitli."

This dog-themed pot is inspired by an archeological piece depicting a "Colima dog," a Mesoamerican domesticated animal that was shorter and thicker than the Aztec xoloescuincle dogs that still exist today. These short, pot-bellied effigies have been found in shaft tombs throughout the southern state of Colima, hence their name. The original piece can be found at Mexico's national Anthropology Museum. This ceramic version is crafted by the Angel Ceron Artisan Association.

Legend tells how Quetzalcoatl, the Feathered Serpent, created the human race. However, in doing so, he had to confront Mictlantecuhtli, the god of death. Inspired by this story, artisans from the Angel Cerón Artisan Association create an original mask that is faithful to Mexico's ancient books and archaeological record.

Known as Aztecs, the Mexica people practiced ritual sacrifice. Death cult priests, dagger in hand, assisted the victims in their supernatural transformation into both god and governor who were transported to a space and time where all is calm and the cosmos is in perfect order. Drawing on a lifelong study of Mexico's pre-Hispanic cultures, artisans from the Angel Cerón Artisan Association create a mask of their own design to represent this concept.