Material: wood, turquoise, shell (red, white pieces)

Size: 8 in x 17 in

 

First, take a minute or two to look closely at the images above. Write down your reaction to this object--what details do you notice? Why did you pick this object for your response paper? Make notes on things that you notice about it. Also, write down any questions you have about it--what kinds of things would you want to know about this object? Remember the questions we ask in class. You don't need to have answers for these questions yet, but keep them in your notes.

​

Once you have some questions written down, try to answer them by reading the information I've provided below about this object and its context.​

​

What do we know about this object?​

​

This mosaic depicts a double-headed serpent. The double-headed serpent is made of a multitude of tiny turquoise stones along with conch and Spondylus shells, glued with copal and pine resin onto a cedarwood base gilded on its backside. In the British Museum's Conservation Department, Rebecca Stacey has been examining the materials that make up the object as well as the resins or glue that hold the two thousand-odd pieces together:

               "We have done a range of analyses, we've looked at the variety of different shells that are present. The bright red shell used on the mouth and the nose is from the 'Spondylus princeps', the thorny oyster, which was a really highly prized shell in ancient Mexico because of this fabulous scarlet red colour, and also because it involved diving to great depths - dangerous deep-sea diving - to harvest it as well. Even the adhesives, which are plant resins, were important ritual materials, because they are the very same materials that were used as incense and as ritual offerings. They had a very important ceremonial life of their own. A number of different plant resins were used: pine resin, fairly familiar, and also tropical bursera resin, which is a much more aromatic resin, very much associated with incense, and still used as incense in Mexico today."

​

The Aztec capital at Tenochtitlan was quite far inland, so shell had to be imported from the coast. Turquoise also came from distant corners of the Aztec empire. The Aztec ruler received regular gifts (tribute) from the lands he had conquered, and turquoise was one of the most valuable items obtained through tribute. It is even possible that the turquoise was being imported through trade routes from the American Southwest. Thus, part of the story this object tells is about the power of the Aztec Empire.

 

Part of the story is also about the skill of the craftspeople who made this object. A close look at the serpent provides a window into the attentive labor, exacting standards, and refined skills of the artisan: the tiny turquoise stones were chosen with a careful eye, darker stones undulating within the center of the serpent’s body; the stones were fitted with precision, some of them providing a 3-D effect; the entire creation was neatly symmetrical. This too is power--the power to command the finest artisans in the area to make you amazing objects with precious materials.

​

There were several social classes among the Aztec people, ranging from the king and nobles at the top all the way to humble farmers and slaves at the bottom of society. One of the ways people signaled their social class to other people was by their dress. This object could potentially have been worn on the chest as a pectoral. In that way it would have sent a message to anyone who saw the wearer that this person was wealthy and powerful.

​

The Aztecs (or Mexica, as they called themselves) did not always live at the site of Tenochtitlan. The Mexica told a story that, sometime around 1200 CE, they were wandering without a home. They saw an eagle land on a cactus with a snake clutched in its claws, which the Mexica interpreted as a sign from the gods that this should be their new settlement. By the early 1400s CE, the Mexica began to gain control over a wide area of Mexico through warfare. Just 100 years later, they were conquered by Hernan Cortes. Cortes and his men recorded what they saw when the arrived in the Aztec capital--wide streets, huge markets full of every kind of good you could imagine, enormous temples and palaces, and fabulously rich objects (especially gold objects). Much of this material was looted by the Spanish after they conquered the Aztecs, and the vast majority of the precious gold or silver was melted down. We are left only with objects like this serpent mosaic to help us envision the splendor of this short-lived empire.

​

The poet and writer Adriana Diaz Enciso explains the snake's connection to the Aztec gods, and especially to the great feathered serpent god, Quetzalcoatl:

             "The snake was important for the Aztecs as a symbolism of regeneration and resurrection. In the temple of Quetzalcoatl in Tenochtitlan you can see some sculptural reliefs of snakes that are pouring water out of their mouth, and the water is falling on the crops to help them grow. So it has that meaning of fertility. The figure of Quetzalcoatl is seen in several sculptures and drawings as a snake with a body covered with feathers. The fusion of this bird, the quetzal, and the snake, which is a symbol of the earth, is the fusion of the powers of the heaven and the powers of the earth so, in that sense, it's also a symbol of eternity and of renewal. The two heads in this snake is the symbol of dualism, which was a fundamental part of the Aztec religion. All the deities have a dual nature - male, female, birth, death, night, day, generation and destruction."

 

The Aztec deity Quetzalcoatl, the "Feathered Serpent", was sometimes represented by a rattlesnake. Quetzalcoatl was a god of wind and air. He was also a patron god of craftspeople, and was considered to have had a pivotal role in the creation of humanity. He was also a patron god of the priesthood--he was connected with learning and knowledge. The quetzal bird was prized by the Aztecs for its feathers, which are a bright green; the stone turquoise was considered by the Aztecs to be similar in color to the quetzal's feathers.

​

The word for serpent in Nahuatl, the language spoken by the Aztecs, is coatl and is associated with several gods such as Quetzalcoatl (Feathered Serpent), Xiuhcoatl (Fire Serpent), Mixcoatl (Cloud Serpent) or Coatlicue (She of the Serpent Skirt), the mother of the Aztec god Huitzilopochtli. The habit of snakes to shed their skin each year probably led to them being used to convey ideas concerning renewal and transformation. Likewise the ability of many species to move freely between water, earth and the forest canopy helped underline their symbolic role as intermediaries between the different layers of the cosmos (underworld, earth and sky).

​

This object is now located in the British Museum. It may have been brought back to Europe by Hernan Cortes, and eventually was acquired for the British Museum. 

​

Some things to consider in your response paper:​

• What was your response to this object? What drew your eye? What do you like about it, or dislike? You are encouraged to use first person (I/me) in your response paper. I want to know what you think.

• Consider the artistic details of this object carefully. What kinds of decisions did the artist make when they were creating this piece, and why? Use your art terminology. Consider the process of manufacture and the materials used--what does this tell you about the artist? Why choose the form of a double-headed serpent?

• Place this object into its historical and cultural context. Who might have owned this object? How was this object used? What did this object mean to the person who owned it? What might it have meant to people who saw the owner wearing it?

• What evidence can this object provide about Aztec culture, religion, or power in the Aztec Empire?