LIST OF WORKS DESCRIBING MEXICAN MOSAICS
1648
Aldrovanus, Ulysses. Musæum metallicum. Bologna.
In this work are a brief description (p. 550) and illustrations of two of the specimens now in the Museum in Rome, namely, one of the knife handles (our pl. XXXIX), and the mask (our pl. VIII). This book is vol. XIII of the fourteen volumes of the Opera Omnia of Aldrovanus, issued in 1602-1668.
1861
Tylor, E. B. Anahuac: or Mexico and the Mexicans, ancient and modern. London.
See pp. 110, 235, 337-339, I fig. Dr. Tylor illustrates the knife with handle in the figure on p. 101. In the appendix (pp. 337-339), article V is a “Description of three very rare specimens of ancient Mexican mosaic work (in the collection of Henry Christy, Esq.).” These objects are now in the British Museum.
1866
Brasseur de Bourbourg, E., and Waldeck, F. Palenque et autres ruines de l’ancienne civilisation du Mexique. Collection de vues, bas-reliefs, morceaux d’architecture, coupes, vases, terre cuites, cartées et plans, dessinés d’après nature et relevés par M. de Waldeck. Texte rédigé par M. Brasseur de Bourbourg.... Ouvrage publié sous les auspices de S. E. M. le Ministre de l’instruction publique. Paris. Arthur Bertrand, Editeur. Plates. Monuments anciens du Mexique.
Describes (p. VIII) and illustrates in color (pl. XLIII, XLIV) the mosaic-handled knife and mosaic skull mask formerly in the Hertz collection, now in the British Museum.
1867
Léouzon le Duc, L. Rapport sur les antiquités mexicaines conservées à Copenhague. Archives de la Commission Scientifique du Mexique, Tome III. Paris.
Two Mexican mosaics in the Copenhagen Museum are described (tome III, pp. 157-158), as follows:
“Voici maintenant trois pièces qui, à mon avis, méritent une attention toute particulière.
“D’abord, une tête d’alligator, de 19 centimètres de longueur. Cette tête est sculptée en bois et creusée par derrière. La gueule de l’alligator est largement ouverte et ses mâchoires encadrent une tête humaine fixée au fond du palais.
“Ensuite, une tête d’idole, également sculptée en bois et évidée intérieurement, avec une coiffure très-élevée et évasée au sommet, d’une hauteur totale, y compris la tête, de 24 centimètres. La bouche de l’idole est vaste, ses lèvres fortement tendues découvrent une double rangée de longues dents; ses oreilles sont ornées de pendelogues.
“Ces deux pièces offrent cette singularité remarquable qu’elles sont garnies en partie, et ont dû l’avoir été en entier, de petits fragments d’os la plupart quadrangulaires, blanc ou teints en vert, en rouge et en noir, fixés sur le bois à l’aide d’une espèce de résine, ce qui leur donne l’aspect d’une mosaïque. Fort endommagées, elles n’ont guère conservé d’intacts que les yeux, dont les prunelles sont formées d’os blancs, noirs et rouges, et entourées d’un cordon d’os verts. L’état du bois qui les compose suffrirait à lui seul pour établir leur haute antiquité, si déjà leur caractère symbolique ne la rendait évidente. L’une et l’autre out été achetées à Rome, où l’on suppose qu’elles avaient été apportées de Mexico par un missionnaire.”
1869
Squier, E. G. Observations on a collection of chalchihuitls from Central America. Annals of the New York Lyceum of Natural History, vol. IX, August, article XIV, pp. 252-253, fig. I.
The mosaic skull in the British Museum is illustrated, after Waldeck.
1870
Stevens, Edward T. Flint chips. A guide to prehistoric archæology, as illustrated by the collection in the Blackmore Museum, Salisbury. London.
Aztec mosaic work, pp. 324-328. Describes specimens in the Christy collection.
1880
Steinhauer, C. L. Das Königliche Ethnographische Museum zu Copenhagen. Hand-catalog für die Besuchenden. Copenhagen.
Describes (p. 19) the two mosaics in the Copenhagen Museum. In the 1866 edition the description is on p. 22.
1883
Brocklehurst, Thomas Unett. Mexico to-day: a country with a great future, and a glance at the prehistoric remains and antiquities of the Montezumas. London.
Describes (p. 184) and reproduces in colors (pl. XXXIII) the human-skull mask in the British Museum. Pl. XXXIV illustrates the goddess Coatlicue, showing the turquois-mosaic in colors—the specimen to which Peñafiel refers, vide 1903. See our pl. II.
1885
Colini, G. A. Collezioni etnografiche del Museo Borgiano. Bollettino della Società Geografica Italiana, Roma, Anno XIX, vol. XXII; serie II, vol. X, pp. 316-325, 914-932.
In this article Colini (pp. 324-325) describes two masks and an idol in the Museo Borgiano in Rome. Regarding these specimens he quotes from Vitæ Synopsis Stephani Borgiæ, S. R. E. Cardinalis amplissimi, S. Congr. de Propaganda Fide Præfecti, Roma, 1805, p. 44, “Classis mexicana: multa lignea et testacea idolorum simulacra forma et figura singulari, ac gente mexicanæ propia.” He describes the idol as being made of wood in the form of a human figure, 45 cm. high. The two masks of wood are described, and figured on the plate containing drawings of other American antiquities. It is highly probable that these three objects were formerly decorated with mosaic.
Pigorini, Luigi. Gli antichi oggetti Messicani incrostati di mosaico esistenti nel Museo Preistorico ed Ethnografico di Roma. Reale Accademia dei Lincei, Anno CCLXXXII, 1884-1885. 9 pp., I pl. with 5 colored figs.
Bastian, A. Zwei altmexikanische Mosaiken. Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft für Anthropologie, p. 201.
1888
Bastian, A., and Uhle, Max. Schädelmaske von Mexico und Analogien aus der Südsee. Veröffentlichungen aus dem Königlichen Museum für Völkerkunde, Herausgegeben von der Verwaltung, Berlin, Oct.
A description (pp. 2-3) and colored illustration (T. I., I) of the mosaic-skull mask in the Berlin Museum.
Andree, Richard. Die altmexikanischen Mosaiken. Beitrage zur Ethnographie von Amerika aus dem Internationalen Archiv für Ethnographie. Leiden.
Brief notice (p. 8) of the specimen in Gotha.
1889
Andree, Richard. Ethnographische Parallelen und Vergleiche. Neue Folge. Leipzig.
Description (pp. 127-130) of the mosaic specimen in Gotha.
1890
Peñafiel, Antonio. Monumentos del arte Mexicano antiguo. Berlin.
Description (Text, p. 23) and illustration in colors (Atlas, pl. 123) of the knife with mosaic handle in the British Museum.
Andree, Richard. Sur une ancienne mosaique mexicaine. Congrès International des Américanistes, Compte-rendu de la septième session, Berlin, 1888. Berlin.
Describes the Gotha specimen (pp. 146-148).
Heger, Franz. Sur quelques objets archéologiques du Mexique et de l’Amérique du Sud. Congrès International des Américanistes, Compte-rendu de la septième session, Berlin, 1888, pp. 93-97.
The author describes (p. 94) one of the mosaic pieces in the Vienna Museum. In the discussion of this paper, Seler (p. 104) identifies the animal-like figure as representing the god Xolotl.
1892
Pi y Margil, Francisco. Historia de la América antecolombiana. Tomo primero, segunda parte. Barcelona.
Two colored illustrations (opposite p. 1214) of the mosaic-handled knife in the British Museum.
Heger, Franz. Altmexikanische Reliquien aus dem Schlosse Ambras in Tirol. Annalen des K. K. Naturhistorischen Hofmuseums, B. VII, Heft 4, pp. 310-400, pl. XVIII, XXII. Vienna.
In this paper Dr. Heger describes and illustrates the shield and animal head (three views) of turquois mosaic in the Vienna Museum.
1895
Read, Charles Hercules. On an ancient Mexican head-piece coated with mosaic. Archæologia, vol. LIV, 16 pp., pl. XXVIII, fig. 1-6, London.
Gives in colors and describes for the first time the mosaic head-piece, and illustrates all but one of the eight other pieces, in the British Museum.
1896
Oppel, A. Die altmexikanischen Mosaiken. Globus, Bd. LXX, Nr. 1 (June), pp. 4-12, 15 fig., Braunschweig.
Figures seven mosaic pieces in the British Museum, five pieces in Rome, one piece in Berlin, a piece in Gotha, and a section of the shield in Vienna.
1903
Peñafiel, Antonio. Indumentaria Antigua Mexicana. Vestidos Guerreros y Civiles de los Mexicanos. Mexico.
Dr. Peñafiel, in chapter XXIII, under the heading “Incrustaciones de Mosaico,” describes some of the mosaic pieces in Europe which he states are the most important specimens. “Of this class of works the Museo Nacional (Mexico) can count as having only one, in the statue of Coatlicue coming from Tehuacan.” On pl. 26 are given the British Museum knife, and the two knife-handles in Rome; on pl. 117 one of the masks in Rome; on pl. 118(A) the skull mask in Berlin, and (B) the mask in Rome; pl. 123 is the femur musical instrument in Rome; and pl. 168 restorations of the knife-handle specimens with blades, in Rome. These illustrations are all in colors, excepting the last.
1906
Bushnell, David I., Jr. North American ethnographical material in Italian museums. American Anthropologist, N. S., vol. VIII, Lancaster, Pa.
On pp. 245-246 the author briefly describes the five mosaic pieces in Rome, and regarding one of the masks (our pl. VII, a) quotes from the inventory of the Guardaroba Medicea, 1553, showing the specimen to have been in the Medici collection.
Lehmann, Walter. Altmexikanische Mosaiken und die Geschenke König Motecuzomas und Cortés. Globus, Bd. XV, Nr. 20, pp. 318-322, Braunschweig, 29 Nov.
In this study Lehmann enumerates the twenty-three Mexican mosaic pieces in European museums and gives considerable documentary material from the early chroniclers.
1907
Kunz, George Frederick. Gems and precious stones of Mexico. Mexico.
On pp. 7-10, Dr. Kunz discusses turquois and describes some of the turquois mosaic specimens in European museums. On p. 52 he concludes that “it must be considered as possible, at least, that other localities containing turquois were once known, and may be hereafter re-discovered.”
Lehmann, Walter. Altmexikanische Mosaiken in Kgl. Museum für Völkerkunde zu Berlin. Congrès International des Américanistes, XVᵉ Session, tenue à Quebec en 1906, tome II, pp. 339-349, 4 fig., Quebec.
Describes and illustrates two pieces of Mexican mosaics in the Ethnographical Museum of Berlin, a double-jaguar figure, and a jaguar head. The first came from the estate of Alexander von Humboldt, the second was transferred to the Berlin Museum from the Ducal Museum of Braunschweig.
Lehmann, Walter. Die altmexikanischen Mosaiken des Ethnographischen Museums in Kopenhagen. Globus, Bd. XCI, Nr. 21, pp. 332-335, 6 June, 1907. Abb. I-III.
The author describes and figures the two pieces in Copenhagen, giving front and side views, and two different drawings of one of the masks in Rome.
1908
Díaz del Castillo, Bernal. (Maudslay, A. P., translator and editor.) The true history of the conquest of New Spain. Edition of the Hakluyt Society, vol. I, London.
Under the title “Montezuma’s Gifts to Cortés,” Maudslay describes (Appendix, pp. 299-302) and illustrates (pl. 13-16) the three mosaic masks in the British Museum. Pl. 16 is a rear view of the skull mask showing the leather strap by which it was attached to the head. This mask Maudslay identifies as probably that of Tezcatlipoca, and the other two as belonging to Quetzalcoatl.
1910
Gamio, Manuel. Los monumentos arqueológicos de las inmediaciones de Chalchihuites, Zacatecas. Anales del Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Historia y Etnología, tome II, pp. 469-492, pls. 1-8, Mexico.
On pl. 8 are figured two pieces of mosaic-work found in the ruins near Chalchihuites.
Blackiston, A. Hooton. Recent discoveries in Honduras. American Anthropologist, N. S., vol. 12, Lancaster, Pa.
Describes (p. 539) and illustrates (pl. XLVI) the mosaic wooden mask found in 1908 in a cave in an arroyo on the headwaters of a small stream flowing into the Rio Chamelecon, about 25 miles distant from the ruins of the ancient city of Naco. This specimen is now in the Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation. See our pl. XVII.
1912
Joyce, T. A. A short guide to the American antiquities in the British Museum. London.
Joyce describes (p. 14) and illustrates (figs. 12-17) six of the mosaic pieces in the British Museum.
1914
Joyce, T. A. Mexican archæology. An introduction to the archæology of the Mexican and Mayan civilizations of pre-Spanish America. New York and London.
In pl. I is reproduced in colors the skull mask, and in pl. XVIII, fig. 1, the knife with handle. Reference to these is made on p. 141.
Holmes, W. H. Masterpieces of aboriginal American art. II. Mosaic work, minor examples. Art and Archæology, vol. I, no. 3, Washington, November.
A description (pp. 91-102) of some of the more important specimens of mosaics, with colored frontispiece and 9 figures.
1915
Pogue, Joseph E. The turquoise. A study of its history, mineralogy, geology, ethnology, archæology, mythology, folklore, and technology. Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. XII, part II, third memoir, Washington.
Mexican mosaics are described on pp. 93-97; fig. 4 illustrates the bird mask in Gotha; pl. 15-17, Mexican mosaics in the British Museum and in Rome (10 pieces). The Use of Turquois in Mexico and Central America: Use as Attested by Historical Evidence, pp. 90-92; Use as Attested by Objects, pp. 93-97.
1921
Arreola, José María. Como legítima el Museo Nacional ha adquirido una pieza falsificada. El Excelsior, Mexico, Oct. 20.
Illustrates in this signed newspaper article a stone mask with turquois mosaic decoration said to have been found in Guerrero. He concludes that it is fraudulent.
Lehmann, Walter. Altmexikanische Kunstgeschichte ein Entwurf in Umrissen. Band 8 des Orbis Pictus. Weltkunst-Bücherei herausgegeben von Paul Westheim. Berlin.
In this short study of old Mexican art history Dr. Lehmann illustrates a number of notable Mexican antiquities. The Xolotl figure in Vienna is illustrated, front and side views, pl. 7, and the crouching animal figure in the British Museum is given on pl. 8. He gives brief descriptions in the description of plates on pp. 22-23.
1922
Gamio, Manuel. Una máscara de mosaico falsificada. [A counterfeit mosaic mask.] Ethnos, tomo I, núms. 8-12, pp. 260-264, Mexico, Nov. 1920-Mar. 1921.
Gamio denounces as fraudulent the stone mosaic mask claimed to have been discovered in Guerrero by Porfirio Aguirre.
Mena, Ramon. La arqueología debe de estar en manos de arqueológicos. El Universal, Mexico, April 2.
In this signed newspaper article Mena defends the authenticity of the stone mask decorated with turquois mosaic, said to have been found in Guerrero.
Transcriber’s Notes:
Variations in spelling and hyphenation are retained.
Punctuation has been retained as published.