MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION, NEW YORK
In a letter to the writer Dr. H. J. Spinden advances an explanation of the combination of the figures in this sun-disc shield. With his permission we quote him verbatim:
I am inclined to believe that the design as a whole represents a sun shield, the eight radiating bars being the rays, while the celestial band, the three human figures, and the Colhuacan glyph replace the parts of the sun’s face, namely, the head-band, the two eyes and nose (the plunging figure in lieu of the nose), and the mouth. This may seem pretty far-fetched at first glance, but it is quite in the spirit of Aztec art. On the Calendar Stone, around the face of the sun god and the ollin symbol with the enclosed glyphs of the four ages, is, first, a circle of the day signs, second, a circle of quincunx figures, supposed to be the classical hieroglyphs or rather symbols of turquoises, third, a frieze of eagles’ feathers. Multiple rays of different sizes complete the picture. In the actual shield before us we have the turquois mosaic, and the holes around the rim suggest that eagles’ feathers may once have been attached. Compare the sun shield or sun basket of the Pueblo Indians, and the various sun shields on Mayan monuments. Now, the sun and turquois seem to be pretty closely connected symbolically—both mean divine. The hieroglyph of the sun is used for the teo, god, in place names, while the prefix xiuh means divine in connection with various objects. Jade, on the other hand, means precious. The sun in Aztec ritual is pretty closely connected with riches and jewels, and the sun disc may easily have been conceived of as a gem-studded object. I think it quite possible, therefore, that the design on this shield was intended to symbolize the face of the sun, and the fact that complete figures engaged in some ritualistic function replaces the parts of a realistic face does not detract from the theory.
The back of the shield is shown in pl. XXII. Through the two vertical ridges are pairs of holes, evidently for the leather thongs for holding the shield. The twenty-eight small holes around the edge of the shield were probably for the insertion of feathers or other ornaments, as in the British Museum shield.
In technique our shield is similar in all respects to the two mosaic shields in Europe. In all three the incrustation is in a bed of gum that has been spread over the wood.
We now come to the series of seven mosaic shields in New York, shown in pls. XXIII-XXIX. In these we are dealing with a different technique, and one which is new to us. For the matrix a kind of cement like fine gritty brown sand was used in place of gum. They are unfortunately in a considerably damaged state, but two are more or less complete. In these examples the wood has been roughly shaped, and in all of them the marks of the copper or stone adzes are clearly visible, for there was no final smoothing of the wood as in the three specimens before described. The probable reason for this is seen in the shield on pl. XXIII. On the face of this specimen, on portions of the lower edge, especially at the left, are traces of a coarse native paper made from the amate tree, which occurs as a band that had been glued to the wood. Traces of paper also are found in the same place on the shield fragment illustrated on pl. XXIV. It is impossible to state definitely if this paper once extended from the edge to the raised body of the mosaic decoration. On the fragmentary shield just referred to may be seen a faint black line, made with some substance like graphite, running partly around the circumference 1 to 1⅞ inches from the edge. It is probably the artist’s line in arranging for some class of decoration, perhaps delimiting the section to be covered with paper. On the first shield no such line is found, but it seems certain that the rough wood between the narrow band of paper and the mosaic must have been covered either with paper or with some other material. There is no trace of cement, and we are led to believe that the paper once extended over the entire plain surface of the wood. Parchment or soft leather may also have been stretched tightly over the outer zones of shields which show no traces of paper. On this surface some type of decoration was undoubtedly placed. We recall the quotation given above concerning the use of turquois mosaic decoration on paper, in connection with the worship of the god Huitzilopochtli. Feather-mosaics, so far as we know, were generally made either on parchment or on paper. The codices were made either of leather, parchment, or paper, often sized with stucco. In rare cases the painting was applied directly on the paper. It is undoubtedly true that one or the other of these processes of decoration completed the ensemble of the shields we are now considering.
PL. XXX
EAR PLUG OF WOOD WITH MOSAIC DECORATION
MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN HEYE FOUNDATION, NEW YORK