THE AZTEC LAPIDARIES AND THEIR WORKS
The development of the art of the lapidaries and mosaic-workers, like that of the goldsmiths, is attributed by Sahagun to the Toltecs, under the beneficent influence of Quetzalcoatl, the culture hero god. In treating of the pre-Aztec people called Tultecas, or people of Tollan or Tula, by Sahagun, he states that they were very skilful in all that pertained to the fine arts. He writes:
The Tultecas were careful and thorough artificers, like those of Flanders at the present time, because they were skilful and neat in whatsoever they put their hands to; everything (they did) was very good, elaborate, and graceful, as for example, the houses that they erected, which were very beautiful, and richly ornamented inside with certain kinds of precious stones of a green color as a coating (to the walls), and the others which were not so adorned were very smooth, and worth seeing, and the stone of which they were fashioned appeared like a thing of mosaic.... They also knew and worked pearls, amber, and amethyst, and all manner of precious stones, which they made into jewelry.[33]
We find another statement to the effect that—
The lapidary is very well taught, and painstaking in his craft, a judge of good stones, which, for working, they take off the rough part and bring together or cement with others very delicately with bitumen or wax, in order to make mosaic-work.[34]
In the pictorial section of the Florentine manuscript of Sahagun,[35] in the Codex Mendoza,[36] and in the Mappe Tlotzin,[37] are pictures delineating artisans engaged in various crafts, such as weavers, painters, carpenters (wood-carvers), stone carvers, lapidaries, goldsmiths, and feather-mosaic workers, yet we find no actual representation of turquois-mosaic workers. In the third section of the Codex Mendoza appears a picture of a father teaching his son the secrets of the lapidary’s art. The interpreter of the codex writes:
The trades of a carpenter, jeweler (lapidary), painter, goldsmith, and embroiderer of feathers, accordingly as they are represented and declared, signify that the masters of such arts taught these trades to their sons from their earliest boyhood, in order that, when grown up to be men, they might attend to their trades and spend their time virtuously, counseling them that idleness is the root and mother of vices, as well as of evil-speaking and tale-bearing, whence followed drunkenness and robberies, and other dangerous vices, and setting before their imaginations many other grounds of alarm, that hence they might submit to be diligent in everything.
The elaborate series of pictures of the various crafts in the Florentine manuscript of Sahagun (laminas liv to lxiv) includes those that show in detail the work of the goldsmiths and the feather-workers; but the illustrations devoted to the lapidaries we are unable to correlate, in the absence of the text, with the Nahuatl text of the Sahagun manuscript in the Real Academia de la Historia in Madrid, which we will give later from the study by Dr. Seler containing a translation of the native text into French. This description of the work of the lapidaries informs us only concerning the working and polishing of the stones. Unlike the other accounts by Sahagun regarding the goldsmiths and the feather-workers, which enlighten us with respect to the details of these two fine arts, he does not here enter into any description concerning the delicate work of the artists who fashioned the beautiful pieces of stone mosaic. Although such work was turned out by the Aztecan workmen, as we have already demonstrated, it seems highly probable that in times immediately preceding the Spanish conquest, the Aztecan kings Ahuitzotl and Montezuma obtained a considerable number of such objects through tribute and by barter with the tribes living in what are now the states of Vera Cruz, Oaxaca, and western Chiapas. As our knowledge of Mexican archeology, now all too meager, is extended, it is very probable that we will find vestiges of this art in the Pacific state of Guerrero, where great numbers of jadeite and other greenstone objects have been discovered, with a respectable number of specimens indicating the high artistic skill of the indigenes of that section. We may also hope to find relics of this art in the area of Matlaltzincan culture to the north of the valley of Mexico, and also in the field of Tarascan culture in the states of Michoacan and Jalisco, for, as will be related, mosaic specimens have been recovered from ancient ruins as far north as the State of Zacatecas.
PL. VII
MASK OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
PREHISTORIC AND ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUM, ROME
Sahagun’s account (chap. II) of the work of the lapidaries we herewith append, with the Nahuatl text and a translation of the French rendering by Seler.[38]
1. In tlateque tulteca ynic quitequi yn yztac tehuilotl yoan tlapaltehuilotl yoan chalchiuitl yoan quetzalitztli ynica teoxalli yoan tlaquauac tepuztli.
1. The lapidary artisans cut rock-crystal, amethyst, emerald, both common and precious, by means of emery and with an instrument of tempered copper:
2. Auh ynic quichiqui tecpatl tlatetzotzontli.
2. And they scraped it by means of cutting flint.
3. Auh ynic quicoyonia ynic quimamali teputztlacopintli.
3. And they dug it out (hollowed) and drilled it by means of a little tube of copper.
4. Niman yhuian quixteca quipetlaua quitemetzhuia, auh yn yc quicencaua.
4. And then they faceted it very carefully; they burnished (polished) it and gave it the final luster.
5. Ytech quahuitl yn quipetlaua ynic pepetlaca, ynic motonameyotia ynic tlanextia.
5. They polished it set in wood, so that it comes to be very brilliant, shining, glossy.
6. Anoço quetzalotlatl ynitech quilau ynic quicencaua ynic quiyecchiua yn intultecayo tlatecque.
6. Or they polish it mounted in bamboo, and the lapidaries finish it thus, and conclude their work.
7. Auh çannoiuhqui yn tlapaltehuilotl ynic mochiua ynic mocencaua.
7. And in the same manner they work and smooth amethyst.
8. Achtopa quimoleua quihuipeua teputztica yn tlatecque yn tulteca ynic yyoca quitlatlalia yn qualli motquitica tlapaltic yn itaqui.
8. In the first place the lapidary artisans break into pieces the amethyst and crush it with an instrument of copper, for they work only the beautiful pieces which are entirely reddish.
9. Çan niman yuhqui tlatlalia yn campa monequiz quimoleua tepuztica.
9. They do not set up the precious stones named in this manner, except in the parts where it is necessary, when they break them with the copper instrument.
10. Auh niman quichiqui quixteca yoan quitemetzhuia yoan quipetlaua ytech quahuitl yn tlapetlaualoni ynic quiyectilia ynic quicencaua.
10. Then they scrape it, and they facet it, and they smooth it, and they polish it, mounted in wood, set on the instrument called polisher or burnisher, and they manufacture and finish it.
11. Auh yn yehoatl yn moteneua eztecpatl ca cenca tlaquauac chicauac camo ma vel motequi ynica teoxalli.
11. The stone called blood silex (heliotrope) is very hard and very strong, and they do not cut it well with emery.
12. Çaçan motlatlapana motehuia.
12. They break it and they cut it up in any kind of way.
13. Yoan motepehuilia yn itepetlayo yn amo qualli, yn amo uel no mopetlaua.
13. And they throw away the vein-stone, the useless stone, that which does not lend itself readily to polishing.
14. Çan yehoatl mocui motemolia yn qualli, yn vel mopetlaua yn eztic, yn uel cuicuiltic.
14. They do not take or seek except the beautiful pieces that lend themselves to good polishing, the red-banded, that permit themselves to be well cut.
15. Michiqui atica yoan ytech tetl cenca tlaquauac vnpa uallauh yn matlatzinco.
15. They rub them with water and mounted in a very hard stone that comes from the country of Matlatzinca [district of Toluca].
16. Ypampa ca uel monoma namiqui, yniuh chicauac tecpatl noyuh chicauac yn tetl, ynic monepanmictia.
16. And because these two stones are companions, the one to the other, as the silex is very hard, so the stone is hard, they kill one another (the one kills the other).
17. Çatepan mixteca yca teoxalli yoan motemetzhuia yca ezmellil.
17. Then they facet and polish them by means of emery.
18. Auh çatepan yc mocencaua yc mopetlaua, yn quetzalotlatl.
18. And they finish and polish them with bamboo.
19. Ynic quicuecueyotza quitonameyomaca.
19. In this way they make them scintillate and give to them a luster like the rays of the sun.
20. Auh yn yehoatl motocayotia vitzitziltecpatl niman yuh yolli tlacati.
20. And that which they call hummingbird silex (stone of a thousand colors) is (in color like) an animal of that nature.
21. Miyec tlamantli ynic mocuicuiloua, iztac yoan xoxoctic yoan yuhquin tletl, anoço yuhqui citlali yoan yuhquin ayauhcoçamalotl.
21. It is tinted (painted) in a thousand colors, white, blue, clear brilliant red, black with white spots, and the color of the rainbow.
22. Çan tepiton xalli ynic michiqui ynic mopetlaua.
22. They scrape it and simply polish it with fine sand.
23. Auh yn yehoatl motocayotia xiuhtomolli camo tlaquauac camo ezmellil ytech monequi ynic michiqui ynic mixteca yoan ynic motemetzhuia yoan ynic mopetlaua ynic moquetzalotlahuiaya ynic motonameyotia motlanexyotia.
23. The stone that they call round turquois is not very hard, so they have no need of emery to scrape, facet, smooth, or polish, for they apply to it the bamboo, then it receives its radiant luster and brilliancy.
24. Auh yn yehoatl teoxihuitl ca amo cenca tlaquauac.
24. The fine turquois is not very hard either.
25. Çanno tepiton xalli ynic mopetlaua ynic moyectilia auh yn uel no yc motlanextilmaca motonameyomaca occentlamantli ytoca xiuhpetlaualoni.
25. They polish it likewise with fine sand and they give to it a very brilliant luster and radiance by the method of another polisher, called the polisher of turquois.
PL. VIII
MASK OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
PREHISTORIC AND ETHNOGRAPHIC MUSEUM, ROME
Regarding the patron deities of the lapidaries, Sahagun has given us a detailed account which is so interesting that we translate in extenso.
The lapidaries who worked precious stones in the time of their pagandom adored four gods, or better said devils: the first was called Chicunavitzcuintli, the second Naoalpilli, the third Macuilcalli, and the fourth Cintcutl: to all these last three gods they made a festival when there reigned the sign or character called Chicunavitzcuintli, which is a woman, and for this (reason) they painted it so: to this (one) they attributed the cosmetics of the women, and in order to signify this they painted it with a crosier in the right hand, and in the left they put a shield, in the which (shield) there was represented a foot. They also put ear-ornaments of gold on it, and from the cartilage of the nose hung a butterfly of the same metal, and they dressed it (the idol) with a uipil and woman’s shirt that was woven white and red, and also the skirts: they put on some sandals, also colored, having some paintings that appeared like almonds. To all these four (gods) they gave their images or their titles, so that they might die in their service on the day of their festival. That one called Naoalpilli they decked out, and they cut the strands of hair in unequal lengths, very badly cut, disheveled or standing on ends, and divided in two parts. They put on the forehead a delicate plate of gold (thin) like paper, some earrings of gold in the ears, and in the hand a crosier decorated with rich feathers, and in the other (hand) a shield made like a net, and in four parts it had rich feathers badly placed. They also dressed it with a jacket woven white and red, with edging in the lower end: they also put on it some colored sandals. And the other god, called Macuilcalli, they also composed like a man, the hair cut in the middle of the head like a ridge, that is called quachichiquille, and this ridge was not of hair but made of the richest feathers. They placed in the temples some plates of delicate gold, and a jewel hung from the neck also, made of a round and wide marine shell. In the hand a crosier made of rich feathers was placed, and in the other hand was a shield with some circles of red, some inside the others; they had the body painted vermilion color, and they also put on it some sandals of the same color. The other god, called Cinteutl, was fashioned in the likeness of a man, with a mask wrought like mosaic-work, with some rays of the same (mosaic-work), coming out of the same mask. They put on it a jacket of cloth dyed light-blue; a jewel of gold hung from the neck. They place it (the idol) on a high platform from which it looked out, which platform, called cincalli, was composed of cornstalks after the manner of a xacal. They adorned it with some white sandals, the fastenings of which were made of loose cotton; they say that to these gods they attribute the artifice of working precious stones, of the making of barbotes (the tops of helmets), and ear-ornaments of black stone, of crystal, and of amber, and of other white (stones). They also attribute to these gods the working of beads, anklets, strings of pearls which they carried on their wrists, and all kinds of work in stones and chalchihuites, and the hollowing-out and polishing of all the stones; they said that these gods had invented it, and for this reason they were honored as gods, and to them the elder artisans of this craft and all the other lapidaries made a festival. By night they intoned their hymns and set the captives who were to die, on watch in their honor, and they did not work during the festival. This (festival) was celebrated in Xochimilco, because they said that the forefathers and ancestors of the lapidaries had come from that town, and there was the place of origin of these artisans.[39]
PL. IX
MASK OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION. NEW YORK
The ruler of the eighteenth week of the astrological calendar, or tonalamatl, was a goddess named Chantico or Quaxolotl, also nicknamed Chiconaui-itzcuintli,[40] from the ninth day of the thirteen-day period or week. Seler writes:
She was the goddess of Xochimilco, and consequently also the chief deity of the guild of the tlatecque, of the stone cutters, the stone polishers, the jewelers, who were also supposed to come from Xochimilco. (Duran calls her wrongly Ciuacoatl and identifies her with the goddess of Colhuacan, which place stood opposite the city of Xochimilco).... Besides Chiconaui-itzcuintli the stone-cutters had still a few other titles for the goddess. Such were Papaloxaual and Tlappepalo, i.e., “she of the red butterfly painting,” and “she with the red butterfly,” and these have reference to fire.... The stone-cutters also gave their goddess a butterfly as her nasal ornament, which, red and white, are the colors of her robe.[41]
In some of the different versions or paintings of the tonalamatl contained in old Mexican codices, opposite the delineation of the goddess Chantico there is placed a fasting man in an enclosure. In both Codex Borbonicus[42] and Codex Telleriano Remensis,[43] this figure is found. Seler describes it as—
an enclosure inlaid with gold discs or rings. The interpreter designates it as “house of gold.” Beyond doubt this name has reference to one of the four little fasting houses (necaualcalli) which the hero of Tollan, Quetzalcoatl, built for himself, and naturally corresponded to the four quarters of the heavens, the first of which was said to be made of gold or embellished with gold (coztic teocuitlacalli), the second decorated with red musselshells (tapachcalli), the third with turquoises (xiuihcalli), the fourth with white musselshells (teccizcalli).[44]
Seler draws this inference from the legend given by Sahagun, which we have translated in full below.
As often is the case, there is some confusion in the description of Chantico in the early writings. This deity is also asserted to be a male. In the explanation of the Codex Telleriano Remensis the attributes of Chantico or Cuaxolotle are recited. It is said that—
Chantico presided over these thirteen signs (a division of the tonalamatl, or divinatory calendar), and was the lord of chile or of the yellow woman. He was the first who offered sacrifice after having eaten fried fish; the smoke of which (sacrifice) ascended to heaven; at which Tonacotli (Tonacatecutli, the father of all the gods) became incensed, and pronounced a curse against him that he should be changed into a dog, which accordingly happened, and he named him Chantico on this account, which is another name for Miquitlatecotle. From this transgression the destruction of the world ensued. He was called Nine Dogs, from the sign on which he was born. Chantico or Cuaxolotle is the symbol which the country people of Xolotle wear on their heads.[45] (The symbol of the city of Xolotlan in the Codex Mendoza is the head of a Dog.)
In the Sahagun manuscript of the Real Palacio in Madrid[46] the deity is painted with the shirt and skirt of a woman, and also in the Codex Borbonicus[47] and the Tonalamatl Aubin.[48] In his explanation of the last codex Seler has treated exhaustively of the various representations and attributes of this goddess.[49]
Among the laws of the Mexicans was the following:
They hung and very severely punished those sons who squandered the property left them by their fathers, or destroyed the arms, jewels, or remarkable things that their fathers had left.[50]
PL. X
MASK OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION, NEW YORK
In another study[51] we have called attention, as follows, to the daily traffic of gold and precious stones in the great market of Tenochtitlan.
Cortés describes the great market of Tenochtitlan, and the great quantity of things daily exposed for sale included jewels of gold, silver, and stones. The Anonymous Conqueror, in describing the great market, states that “on one side of the plaza are those who sell gold, and adjoining are those who sell precious stones of various classes set in gold, in the shapes of various birds and animals.”[52] This refers to mosaic jewels with stone and gold inlays. Cortés further informs us that Montezuma had in his house representations in gold, silver, stones, or feathers, of every object of his domain, beautifully executed; and there is also a statement (by Ixtlilxochitl) that in the collection of Nezahualcoyotl, king of Texcoco, were the representations in stone mosaic-work and gold of every bird, fish, or animal which could not be obtained alive.[53]
A most interesting description is given by Sahagun of one of the edifices erected by the Toltecs in Tula. If true, it clearly shows that in pre-Aztec times much more elaborately decorated buildings were erected than in the more recent period, for there are no accounts in the writings of the Spaniards of such lavishly ornamented buildings existing in the numerous cities conquered by them during the beginning of the sixteenth century. This is corroborated by the excavations now being conducted in the ruins of Teotihuacan, the greatest city known to us from Toltec times, where some marvelous structures have been unearthed.[54] The temple in question is said by Sahagun to have been built in honor of Quetzalcoatl, and included in its embellishment some of the most precious work of which they were capable.
It had four halls. The eastern one (had the walls) covered with plates of gold, and it was called the golden hall or house. The western hall was called the hall of emeralds, or turquoises, because inside they had (the walls) covered with fine stonework, with all manner of stones, all placed and joined (together) as a coating or covering, like work of mosaic. The southern hall had the walls of divers marine shells, and in place of any other covering, they had silver, which was put together so nicely with the shells that the joints were not visible. The fourth hall, the northern one, had the walls made of colored jasper and shell, put on in a very ornamental manner.[55]
The fame of this temple or palace seems to have been firmly established, as Sahagun recurs to it in another part of his history, but in less detail. Sahagun follows the fortunes of the culture hero while he was in the ascendency in Tula, and states that later, owing to circumstances which it is needless to relate in this place, Quetzalcoatl determining to abandon Tula, ordered the burning of “all the houses that he had made of silver and shell, and furthermore commanded that other precious things should be buried in the neighboring hills and ravines.”[56] This indicates that the mosaic-decorated building was laid in ruins, and part of the treasure, at least, was buried before the inhabitants left the region and commenced the migration southward.
In presenting the tradition of this migration of Quetzalcoatl, Sahagun states that he (Quetzalcoatl) is reputed to have made and erected some houses underground which are called Mientlancalco. This of course refers to the famous ruins of Mitla, and seems to be an authentic tradition of the Nahuan origin of this important city of southern Mexico. It is doubly significant, when considered in connection with the description of the mosaic-decorated buildings in Tula, for, as is well known, the dominant architectural feature of the Mitla group of structures is the mosaic treatment of many of their outer and inner walls.
PL. XI
MASK OF WOOD (FRAGMENT) WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION, NEW YORK
It is not necessary to give more than brief attention to this application of mosaic-work in architecture. The traditional mosaic-decorated buildings of Tula have disappeared, but the structures of Mitla are still standing in an excellent state of preservation, and moreover are easily accessible to travelers by rail and automobile; therefore they have been visited and admired by more people than perhaps any ruins in ancient America. In the embellishment of the walls a true mosaic decoration was employed, differing in kind only from the turquois mosaic on small objects. Geometric patterns were produced by fitting together small stones of different shapes and sizes, some of which were more deeply imbedded than others, so that the designs were traced out by the stones which projected more than others; in single panels, several planes were necessary to bring out the desired patterns. In many cases the stones are so neatly fitted that the joints can hardly be traced. We have written elsewhere that—
the massiveness of the construction and simple and chaste ornamentation place the Mitla structures in a class unapproached by any other existing ruined edifices in ancient America. The workmanship revealed in the stonework, the elegant precision with which the stones are laid and carved, is not equaled in any of the Mayan ruins. However, as noted by Holmes, the geometric fretwork mosaics differ from the great façades of the Mayan buildings “in subject matter rather than in kind, for the decorated surfaces there, though depicting animal forms, are mosaics in the sense that they are made up of separate hewn or carved stones set in mortar to form ornamental designs.”[57]