Fig. 25.—Feather-work mantle (Berlin). (After Seler)

Of this feather-work (Fig. [25]) very few specimens remain, but the description of the methods employed in its manufacture have been preserved in the nahuatl text of Sahagun and translated by Seler. Diaz writes of fine fabrics covered with feather-work made by women, and brought daily “from some towns of the province on the north coast near Vera Cruz called Cotaxtla, close by San Juan de Ulua.” In the valley the most renowned feather-workers were the inhabitants of the Amantlan quarter of Mexico, who worshipped gods of their own, and prided themselves on their descent from early immigrants into the valley from the north. The implements used in the craft were a brush and colour-box for sketching designs, a copper knife and wooden cutting-board, and a bone spatula for attaching the feathers when cut into the required shapes. In some cases the feathers were simply sewn to cloth, but the more elaborate mosaics required a lengthier process. Cotton was applied to a strip of maguey by means of paste, and a coating of paste was painted over it; after drying, the cotton was peeled from the maguey and pasted to a backing of bark-paper: the design was carefully drawn upon it, and then cut out after the manner of a stencil, through which the design was traced upon a sheet of maguey, backed with cotton, or cotton backed with maguey. To the last a layer of the cheaper kind of feathers of the requisite shapes and colours was applied by means of the spatula, first the outlines in black, and then the body-colours and details. The foundation was then detached and fastened to a board, and the final layer, this time in precious feathers of similar colours, was added. The stencil was used as a check throughout the whole of the process. Every kind of feather ornament was made by these artists, including the elaborate back-devices worn by different ranks of warriors. For many of the latter cane frames were constructed, to which the feathers, carefully marshalled, were attached by threads, layer upon layer being added, each covering the bare quills of the last, the final row consisting of down. In the earlier days obsidian knives were used to cut the feathers, and in reality the art only became of importance after the conquest of various coastal towns brought the plumes of the more gorgeous birds to Mexico in great quantities as tribute. Those workers engaged upon the feather ornaments and mantles used to deck the figure and representatives of the god Uitzilopochtli, lived in a special house, and many of the more important lords maintained artists who worked especially for them.

Fig. 26.—Pottery spindle-whorls (the top right-hand specimen is of bone), from the Island of Sacrificios.

(British Museum)

Fig. 27.

(Mendoza MS., Oxford)