Article
Xantil (effigy censer)
The effigy censer is not only an extraordinary example of ceramic art, but it also provides a unique opportunity for study. Ceramic is a pervasive medium in the arts of the ancient Americas, but too often the antiquity of the objects and an almost complete lack of historical context have left scholars little to work with in their efforts to interpret function and symbolism. The effigy censer is an exception because the ritual purposes for which it was created became the subject of intense study by Franciscan and Dominican friars during the early Colonial period. Their written accounts provide valuable information about ritual practices, and indicate that the effigy represents a potent spirit force known as a Maquiltonal, meaning "Five Soul" in the Nahuatl language of south ern Mexico, identified by a distinctive white hand painted across the mouth the mark of sorcerers, astrologers, and healers, as well as witches and assassins.
The effigy censer is made in the shape of a seated figure with an enlarged head, expressive face, and bottle-shaped body to which tubular limbs are attached. Although much of the surface has been badly eroded, enough of the fresco survives to recognize the white hand painted across the effigy's mouth. Considered by its creators to be endowed with a life force, the censer was spiritually activated by placing copal, a pine resin incense, inside its base. The smoke of the incense rose through the effigy's hollow body and billowed out the open mouth , sending a prayer to the Maquiltonal, who was believed to reside, along with his four brothers, in the fifth of thirteen heavens.
Colonial friars were both fascinated and horrified by the ritual practices of the indigenous sorcerers, especially their use of lavishly painted screen fold books, called codices, for divination and healing. One friar wrote that the iconic white hand came from the sorcerer's practice of rubbing his fingers with quick lime and tobacco while calling on the spirit of the Maquiltonal, invoked through the censer, to possess him as he touched the pages of the sacred book.
Remarkably, many of the practices with which the effigy censer was associated continue to the present day, despite concerted efforts over the last five centuries to eradicate them. The documentation of these rituals by sixteenth-century friars as well as by modern-day observers provides art historians and archaeologists with an unparalleled opportunity to gain a more profound understanding of an ancient work of art by examining it in the con text of related objects.
The effigy censer is made in the shape of a seated figure with an enlarged head, expressive face, and bottle-shaped body to which tubular limbs are attached. Although much of the surface has been badly eroded, enough of the fresco survives to recognize the white hand painted across the effigy's mouth. Considered by its creators to be endowed with a life force, the censer was spiritually activated by placing copal, a pine resin incense, inside its base. The smoke of the incense rose through the effigy's hollow body and billowed out the open mouth , sending a prayer to the Maquiltonal, who was believed to reside, along with his four brothers, in the fifth of thirteen heavens.
Colonial friars were both fascinated and horrified by the ritual practices of the indigenous sorcerers, especially their use of lavishly painted screen fold books, called codices, for divination and healing. One friar wrote that the iconic white hand came from the sorcerer's practice of rubbing his fingers with quick lime and tobacco while calling on the spirit of the Maquiltonal, invoked through the censer, to possess him as he touched the pages of the sacred book.
Remarkably, many of the practices with which the effigy censer was associated continue to the present day, despite concerted efforts over the last five centuries to eradicate them. The documentation of these rituals by sixteenth-century friars as well as by modern-day observers provides art historians and archaeologists with an unparalleled opportunity to gain a more profound understanding of an ancient work of art by examining it in the con text of related objects.
