The Anahuacans of the fifteenth century were well skilled in art, both mechanical and decorative. With tools of bronze, made from an alloy of tin and copper, they were enabled, by the use of a flinty powder, to shape the hardest substances into articles of use and adornment.
Vessels of gold and silver were moulded and fashioned by them, having upon them representations of birds, animals, flowers, and other objects; and it is said of their goldsmiths that they could blend the metals in such a manner as to represent the feathers of a bird or the scales of a fish, alternately, in gold and silver.
With their natural fondness for display, and the inexhaustible supply of material for its indulgence at their command, it is not surprising that the homes of the nobility and wealthy were gorgeously magnificent in furnishment, especially in the matter of adornment. And, withal, though none of the modern appliances for the promotion of elegance and ease, which now distinguish the mansions of the opulent, were then at hand, their abodes were not without comfort for the physical man.
As in this age, a reception, or drawing-room was an indispensable apartment in the dwellings of the higher classes, and the completeness of its design and arrangement usually indicated not only the wealth and position of the owner, but, also, the taste and accomplishments of the occupants.
The room into which the prince and his attendant were conducted was a model apartment of its kind, and deserves from us at least a passing notice.
The floor was almost hidden under a profusion of mats and gaily wrought rugs. Fancy stools and comfortable divans were placed about the room in a kind of orderly disorder, relieving it from any appearance of disuse or exclusiveness. Across one corner of the room stood an especially attractive divan, over which was a glittering canopy, suspended from the beak of a dead quanhtli (eagle.) From its elevated perch the bird's appearance was so natural that the first glance at it would cause the observer to hesitate before taking a seat beneath it. A second thought, however, would dispel the momentary delusion. Spread out on this divan was the preserved and decorated skin of a Mexican tiger-cat.
The walls were adorned with gorgeous and beautiful hangings, the scintillating glimmer of the reflected light of the taper upon them, as they were gently moved by the force of a passing draught of air, producing a very agreeable effect.
In every nook and corner were to be seen vases of odorous flowers, and images of animals or birds.
On a wall-shelf, at one side of the room, was a peculiarly attractive pot of flowers, over which, suspended by a thread of gold so fine that it required a sharp eye to detect it, was poised a golden-hued hummingbird, apparently about to thrust its prying nib into the unexplored recesses of a half opened flower just below it.
In a conspicuous place on the wall was a showy piece of feather-work, in which was blended the plumage of many birds. There were in it the changeful hues of the parrot, the brilliant colors of the pheasant, and others less attractive, all woven into a perfect representation of beautiful mosaic.