PCX005 - EERIE CERAMIC TLAZOTEOTL AZTEC PRE-COLUMBIAN GODDESS OF SIN, EXCESS AND FORGIVENESS

Product Description

ITEM # 

PCX005

ID

Ceramic Figure

FOUND

Central America

AGE

Post Classic Period 900 - 1521 A. D.

SIZE

7" high x 6" wide x 4" deep, without stand

CONDITION

REPAIRED FROM LARGE FRAGMENTS.
PORTION OF SIDE OF BENCH RESTORED.
MINERALIZED SEDIMENT STILL INTACT 
TESTIFIES TO AUTHENTICITY.

NOTE

A FANTASTIC FIGURE OF A RARE AZTEC
GODDESS.  INCREDIBLE PRESENCE IN 
THIS PIECE!

Actual Item - One Only

Comes with a certificate of authenticity / information sheet

From the Aztec religion, this is an original seated ceramic figure of the Aztec goddess Tlazoteotl.  She was considered the "Eater of Filth" and was the patron goddess of sexual excess and vice.  She was also the one that could absolve one of all their sins of the same.  This forgiveness was given by her, only once in the lifetime of the person whom prayed to her for this absolution.  With the majority of Pre-Columbian ceramics being vessels and commonly seen objects, a figure like this is uncommon.  There is a surreal, life-like presence to this piece that most Pre-Columbian figures rarely possess.  You can see she is seated with a pleasured grin on her face.  She is seen wearing flayed human skin on the lower half of her face, as well as enormous ear flares and a prominent necklace made from large beads.  The bird on her headdress symbolized fertility and the Earth.  The headdress resembled ears of corn collected in a basket, also representing fertility of the harvest and excess.  The outstretched hands on her bent legs appear as if she was once intended to hold a small offering made by those that would come to her in prayer. 

This RARE figure is repaired from large fragments with a portion of one side of the bench, reconstructed and restored.  Parts of the elaborate headdress are missing but due to the delicate nature of the figure, it is in remarkable condition with minimal reconstruction.  Aztec objects like these seldom survived Spanish contact as the conquistadors viewed these indigenous peoples as the true incarnation of evil and nearly everything that was Aztec was destroyed during the invasion.  

Mineral and sediment deposits are evident and provide irrefutable indicators of authenticity and age, ONLY found in ORIGINAL specimens such as this. 

While many ancient civilizations remain a mystery, little can be left to conjecture when it comes to the details of the Aztec way of life. An extensive and detailed collection of written and pictorial records exist for us today called CODICES (CODEX if singular) were produced before Spanish contact by the native tribes themselves, and afterwards during the Colonial period. These codices were created by the Aztecs in pictorial form, as well as by other indigenous tribal sources, all of which had no written language. Colonial era codices exist in greater number with roughly 500 separate codices known, showing extensive pictograms as well as being written in Spanish, Latin and in the original Nahuatl language.

The origin of the Aztec (Azteca) Empire is legendary. Aztec codices record that they began their wandering journey in 1100 A.D. emerging from their former homeland called Aztlan or "place of the herons", an island in a lake where men went out to fish from boats. The exact location of this region is not known but other than it was northwest of present-day Mexico City, the former center of the Aztec empire, but how far, it is a mystery.

 The Aztecas believed they were guided by a blood-thirsty deity they called Huitzilopochtli who communicated to them through four priest-chieftains called teomama. Their god called upon them for his insatiable thirst for human blood and sacrifice. As they migrated south, every indigenous Indian tribe they encountered along the way abhorred the Azteca, as they were known, as they were reviled and scorned for their violent and barbaric ways. During their migration, Huitzilopochtli gave a message to his people that their new identity would no longer be known as Azteca but as Mexica. In around 1325 A.D., as they were fleeing an altercation with the Culhuacans, they were driven to a marsh. Their god Huitzilopochtli consoled them that evening and said he would end their wandering and told them to look for a sign that he will give them that will signify their new homeland which will be "the place of the cactus and the eagle I now name Tenochtitlan". They next day they witnessed an eagle resting on a prickly pear cactus which they interpreted to be the sign they were hoping for. 

 This marsh, Lake Texcoco, would later become a vast canal-laced highly advanced, super city of stone pyramids and temples known as Tenochtitlan. With a population that grew to an estimated 200,000 people (three times the largest city of Spain at the time!) this became the center of the most powerful and militaristic empire of Mesoamerica - home of the Aztecs. Today, we classify their reign as occupying the Late Post Classic Period from 1250 - 1521 A.D.

 The success and rise of the Aztec empire was largely attributed to their dominance through intimidation of their surrounding neighbors from whom they extracted resources from. The effect of their extreme militarism and brutality on their enemies brought a large region of peoples into submission. The highly advanced and complex Aztec social structure, as well as legal system, kept their growth intact and the society orderly. They formed an alliance with the Texcoco and Tlacopan tribes and in 1428 A.D., they defeated the Tepaneca. This triple alliance established a great empire that was predominantly ruled from Tenochtitlan. At its peak, this empire included a large, diverse group of people and spanned an area from the entire Central Mexico region south, into northern Guatemala.