On view
Labret in the form of a bird’s head,
1300–1521
Teōcuitlatl—the Excrement of the Gods
Injn teucujtlatl in coztic, in jztac in jtoca: itech qujça in jtoca teutl, ioan cuicatl: ipampa in maviztic, in coztic, in qualli, in iectli, in tlaçotli, in necujltonolli, in netlamachtilli, intonal, imaxca, inneixcavil in tlatoque, in totecujiovan:itech qujzquj, in quēman cana neçi tlavizcalpan.
The name of this gold, the yellow, the white [silver]—its name comes from teotl [god] cuicatl [excrement], because it is wonderful, yellow, good, fine, precious. It is the wealth, the riches, the lot, the possession, the property of the rulers, our lords.
A Mexica contributor to Bernadino de Sahagún’s Florentine Codex, book 11, folios 213r–213v, original Nahuatl translated by Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble.
More Context
In Mesoamerica the labret, or lip-plug, was a piece of jewelry worn only by noble males in Central Mexico. Inserted through a pierced hole in the lower lip, a labret qualified the wearer's speech and breath as precious. The Aztec term for king, tlatoani, literally means "speaker," attesting to the value of refined, poetic rhetoric. As with most Aztec jewelry, these pieces were actually fabricated by artisans from allied groups to the east, including the Eastern Nahuas, Mixtecs, and Zapotecs. This labret depicts the head of a bird, a common jewelry theme. Many examples can be identified as eagles, parrots, or quetzals, while others appear to be composite creatures. This work combines the crest of a quail with the large beak of a vulture or toucan. As recorded in the sixteenth century by the Franciscan missionary Friar Bernadino de Sahagún, gold objects like this labret were formed by shaping the details in wax over a rough clay and charcoal core. A clay and charcoal mold was then fashioned over the wax form, and molten gold was poured into the space between the mold and the wax. The wax melted and the core was broken with a small pick, leaving a hollow metal form.
Information
1300–1521
North America, Mexico, Puebla, Central Mexico
-
"Acquisitions 1972", Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 32, no. 1 (1973): p. 20-30.
, p. 24 (illus.); p. 30 - Felipe Solís, The Aztec Empire: Catalogue of the Exhibition (New York: Guggenheim Museum Publications, 2004)., cat. no. 293 (illus.)
- Felipe Solís, The Aztec Empire (New York: Guggenheim Museum Publications, 2004)., fig. 153 (illus.)
- John M. D. Pohl, Sorcerers of the Fifth Heaven: Nahua Art and Ritual of Ancient Southern Mexico (Princeton: Princeton University Program in Latin American Studies no. 9, 2007)., fig. 25d, p. 44 (illus.)
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 268 (illus.)
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 320
