ILLUSTRATIONS
Plates
| PAGE | ||
| I. | Wooden shield with turquois mosaic decoration Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York | [Frontispiece] |
| II. | Stone idol with mosaic decoration National Museum, Mexico | [22] |
| III. | a, Wooden staff with turquois mosaic decoration, from Sacred cenote, ruins of Chichen Itza, Yucatan Peabody Museum, Cambridge | |
| b, Wooden rattle with turquois mosaic decoration, from Sacred cenote, ruins of Chichen Itza, Yucatan Peabody Museum, Cambridge | [22] | |
| IV. | Wooden helmet with mosaic decoration British Museum, London | [24] |
| V. | Wooden mask with turquois mosaic decoration British Museum, London | [26] |
| VI. | Wooden mask with turquois mosaic decoration British Museum, London | [28] |
| VII. | Wooden mask with turquois mosaic decoration Prehistoric and Ethnographic Museum, Rome | [30] |
| VIII. | Wooden mask with turquois mosaic decoration Prehistoric and Ethnographic Museum, Rome | [32] |
| IX. | Wooden mask with turquois mosaic decoration Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York | [34] |
| X. | Wooden mask with turquois mosaic decoration Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York | [36] |
| XI. | Wooden mask (fragment) with turquois mosaic decoration Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York | [38] |
| XII. | Wooden mask (fragment) with turquois mosaic decoration Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York | [40] |
| XIII. | Wooden mask with mosaic decoration Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York | [42] |
| XIV. | Wooden mask with mosaic decoration Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York | [44] |
| XV. | Wooden mask (fragment) with mosaic decoration Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York | [46] |
| XVI. | Wooden mask formerly covered with mosaic decoration Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York | [48] |
| XVII. | Wooden mask with turquois mosaic decoration, from Honduras Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York | [50] |
| XVIII. | Skull mask with mosaic decoration Ethnographical Museum, Berlin | [52] |
| XIX. | Skull mask with mosaic decoration British Museum, London | [54] |
| XX. | Wooden shield with turquois mosaic decoration British Museum, London | [56] |
| XXI. | Wooden shield with turquois mosaic decoration State Natural History Museum, Vienna | [58] |
| XXII. | Back of wooden shield illustrated in Pl. I. Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York | [60] |
| XXIII. | Wooden shield with mosaic decoration. Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York | [62] |
| XXIV. | Wooden shield with mosaic decoration. Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York | [64] |
| XXV. | Wooden shield (fragment) with mosaic decoration. Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York | [66] |
| XXVI. | Wooden shield (fragment) with mosaic decoration. Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York | [68] |
| XXVII. | Wooden shield (fragment) with mosaic decoration. Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York | [70] |
| XXVIII. | Wooden shield (fragment) with mosaic decoration. Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York | [72] |
| XXIX. | Wooden shield (fragment) with mosaic decoration. Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York | [74] |
| XXX. | Wooden ear-plug with mosaic decoration. Museum of the American Indian, Heye Foundation, New York | [76] |
| XXXI. | Wooden head with head-piece, with mosaic decoration. National Museum, Copenhagen | [78] |
| XXXII. | [a], Wooden jaguar head with mosaic decoration. Ethnographical Museum, Berlin | |
| [b], Wooden head of animal and human face in jaws with mosaic decoration. National Museum, Copenhagen | 78 | |
| XXXIII. | [a], Wooden head of animal with mosaic decoration. State Natural History Museum, Vienna | |
| [b], Wooden head of monkey with mosaic decoration. British Museum, London | 78 | |
| XXXIV. | [a], Wooden two-headed jaguar figure with mosaic decoration. Ethnographical Museum, Berlin | |
| [b], Wooden bird’s head with mosaic decoration. Museum, Gotha | 78 | |
| XXXV. | Wooden animal figure on haunches with mosaic decoration. British Museum, London | [78] |
| XXXVI. | Wooden double-headed snake figure with mosaic decoration. British Museum, London | [80] |
| XXXVII. | Wooden figure of Xolotl god with mosaic decoration. State Natural History Museum, Vienna | [80] |
| XXXVIII. | Flint knife with wooden handle with mosaic decoration. British Museum, London | [82] |
| XXXIX. | a, Wooden knife handle with mosaic decoration. Prehistoric and Ethnographic Museum, Rome | |
| b, Wooden knife handle with mosaic decoration. Prehistoric and Ethnographic Museum, Rome | [82] | |
| XL. | Human femur musical instrument with mosaic decoration. Prehistoric and Ethnographic Museum, Rome | [84] |
Text Figures
| 1. | Bowl filled with turquois. After Tribute Roll of Montezuma | [24] |
| 2. | Ten masks of turquois. After Tribute Roll of Montezuma | [24] |
| 3. | Small bag filled with turquois. After Tribute Roll of Montezuma | [25] |
| 4. | Shields with turquois mosaic decoration. After Tribute Roll of Montezuma | [25] |
| 5. | Serpent scepter with turquois mosaic decoration. After Sahagun, manuscript of the Real Palacio, Madrid | [43] |
| 6. | a, Gold crown with turquois mosaic decoration. After Sahagun, manuscript of the Real Palacio, Madrid | |
| b, Gold crown. After Tribute Roll of Montezuma | [45] | |
| 7. | Pottery disc with hematite mosaic decoration, from Cuilapa, Oaxaca. American Museum of Natural History, New York | [51] |
| 8. | Gold shield breast ornament with turquois mosaic decoration, from Yanhuitlan, Oaxaca. National Museum, Mexico | [52] |
| 9. | Wooden object (fragment) with turquois mosaic decoration, from Sacred cenote, ruins of Chichen Itza, Yucatan. Peabody Museum, Cambridge | [57] |
| 10. | Wooden object (fragment) with turquois mosaic decoration, from Sacred cenote, ruins of Chichen Itza, Yucatan. Peabody Museum, Cambridge | [57] |
| 11. | Rattle of the god Xipe Totec. After Sahagun, manuscript of the Real Palacio, Madrid | [58] |
| 12. | a, b, c, Crowns with mosaic decoration, from sculptured wall, Temple of the Jaguars, ruins of Chichen Itza, Yucatan. After Maudslay | [58] |
| 13. | Mask with mosaic decoration, from sculptured wall, Temple of the Jaguars, ruins of Chichen Itza, Yucatan. After Maudslay | [59] |
| 14. | Mask with mosaic decoration, from sculptured wall, Temple of the Jaguars, ruins of Chichen Itza, Yucatan. After Maudslay | [59] |
| 15. | Mask of wood with turquois mosaic decoration. Prehistoric and Ethnographic Museum, Rome. After Pigorini | [63] |
| 16. | God Paynal with shield decorated with turquois mosaic. After Sahagun, manuscript of the Real Palacio, Madrid | [70] |
| 17. | God Paynal with shield decorated with turquois mosaic. After Sahagun, Florentine manuscript | [70] |
| 18. | Glyphs of the town of Culhuacan. After Codex Telleriano Remensis | [74] |
| 19. | Knife handle of wood with turquois mosaic decoration. Prehistoric and Ethnographic Museum, Rome. After Pigorini | [83] |
TURQUOIS MOSAIC ART IN ANCIENT MEXICO
By MARSHALL H. SAVILLE
INTRODUCTION
ONE of the tragedies of the discovery of the New World was the abrupt and summary blotting out of the flourishing and still advancing civilization of the Aztec and other Mexican tribes. Had their complete conquest and subjection been delayed a few decades they in all probability would have developed a written phonetic language. Their intellectual abilities are evidenced by a study of the intricate calendar system, and the picture and hieroglyphic records which survive. The triumphs of their architectural attainments are well known, and may be investigated in the numerous monuments and buildings in the ruined cities scattered throughout Mexico. They had made notable strides toward civilization in certain of the minor fine arts. Ignorant of glass and of glazed pottery, they nevertheless developed the ceramic art to a high degree of excellence. Their inventive genius and technical skill were manifest in their goldsmith’s art.[1]