Aztec Statues and Sculpture: Carving Out Mexica Art
Aztec sculptures and statues are some of the most beautiful examples of Aztec art that have survived to the present day. They give us wonderful insight into this civilization’s religious beliefs, the skill of their artists, and their place in Mesoamerican history.
Inheriting a Long Mesoamerican Tradition
Mesoamerican civilization and its traditions stretch back thousands of years. The first large-scale civilization in Mesoamerican hit the scene around 1200 BC. Now known as the Olmec, they thrived until 500 BC and created some of the most stunning works of sculpture the world has ever seen. Though they made works of stone art of all sizes from stone that ranged from ordinary volcanic rock to jade, the Olmec are best remembered for the colossal stone heads. Believed to have been representations of Olmec rulers, the scale and detail of these statues certainly influenced the Mesoamerican civilizations that succeeded the Olmec.
Peoples like the Maya, Zapotec, and Toltec all contributed to the perpetuation and evolution of the Mesoamerican artistic tradition. But Teotihuacan had perhaps the most profound impact on the Aztec. Made between the first and seventh centuries AD, the city of Teotihuacan was a powerhouse in central Mexico. Home to 25,000 people at its height, the city housed pyramid-temples dedicated to their gods and large sale palaces for their rulers. The statues and sculptures that adorn these structures, like those of Quetzalcoatl, were picked up and iterated on by Aztec art.
When the Aztec found the site of Teotihuacan, it had been deserted for some 600 years. The Aztec were so impressed by the large avenues and grande pyramids of the ancient city that they thought it was where the gods came from. In fact, the Aztecs gave the site the name of Teotihuacan, which means “the place where the gods were created,” in the Aztec language, Nahuatl.
By the time the Aztec arrived in central Mexico in the fourteenth-century, they had millennia of artistic traditions to draw upon. As they became the dominant power in Mesoamerica, they embraced these wider traditions, putting their own unique spin on them.
Aztec Sculptures of Important Gods and Goddesses
How societies choose to portray their deities can tell us a lot about their beliefs. Let’s check out how Aztec artists chose to immortalize their gods in sculpture.
Coatlicue (“Lady of the Serpent Skirt”)
After laying buried under the central square in Mexico City for several centuries, this impressive Aztec stone sculpture was discovered in 1791. Now housed safely in the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, it stands at over eight feet tall, this statue depicts the Aztec goddess Coatlicue.. The Aztec earth goddess, whose name means “Lady of the Serpent Skirt” in Nahuatl, she was believed to be the mother of gods and mortals alike, with the power to create and destroy each of them.
In this intricate statue, Coatlicue’s head is made up of two snakes facing each other, which creates the optical illusion of one giant snake staring straight at the observer. Around her chest she wears a necklace made from hands and hearts, signifying that she receives the bodies of sacrificed gods and humans alike. Her skirt is constructed of intertwining snakes (which may seem obvious from her name) and is held up by a built that sports a skull pendant in the middle. Finally, eagle talons protrude from her toes, finishing off her fierce appearance in style.
So… what’s going on here?
Snakes were a powerful symbol in Aztec mythology. Thought of as creatures that could traverse between the human and divine realms, they were often used to depict gods, mythical heroes, and successful rulers. The inclusion of so many snakes in the Coatlicue statue shows her importance in Aztec religion. She was so important, in fact, she was believed to be the mother of Huitzilopochtli, the patron god of the Aztec empire.
The Aztecs also believed that gods needed to consistently be fed the body, blood, and energy of humans and gods. This tenet of Aztec religion explains the body parts that hang from her necklace and belt.
Coyolxauhqui Stone
This amazing circular sculpture depicts the struggle between Coyolxauhqui, the goddess of the Moon or Milky Way (depending on which source you ask), and Huitzilipotchli.
There are several versions of the myth, but the one I like relates the birth of Huitzilopochtli and the violent circumstances surrounding it. According to the legend, Coatlicue became pregnant when a feather fell down from the sky and landed on her. After hearing of this immaculate conception her daughter, Coyolxauhqui, became enraged (the gods only know why). Allying with 400 of her brothers, Coyoolxauhqui attacked her mother with the plan of killing her. Rising to the defense of Coatlicue, Huitzilopochtli emerged from his mother and killed Coyolxauhqui. After defeating his sister, Huitzilopochtli decapitated her and threw her body off of Coatepec, the sacred mountain of the Aztec gods (kind of like their Mount Olympus).
Since it told the story of their most important god’s birth, the Aztecs gave the Coyolxauhqui Stone a place of great importance. Carved around 1473 under the rule of the emperor Axayacatl, the Aztecs placed the sculpture at the foot of the Huitzilopochtli temple. Measuring 11 feet wide, this low relief sculpture was originally painted in vibrant colors.
It certainly would have made quite the impression.
Quetzalcoatl, aka the Feathered Serpent
This famous statue of the Aztec Quetzalcoatl is smaller compared to the other works in this, but still packs a big symbolic punch. Made from volcanic rock and measuring just 12 inches wide and 6 inches tall, this statue of the Quetzalcoatl displays the amazing skills of Aztec artists and sculptures. It displays their ability to create highly symbolic religious works and portray the natural world, all in one piece.
Quetzalcoatl’s name translates into English as “feathered serpent,” which explains why the artists depicted him here as a large, coiled snake with feathers covering his entire body.
The god’s head is perfectly symmetrical and life-like. The Aztec sculptors who created this spared no detail, adorning the statue’s head with natural looking scales, eyes, fangs, and even a coiling tongue reaching out to the viewer.
In contrast to the symmetry of the head, Quetzalcoatl’s body coils in a life-like, but slanting pattern under him. All over his body, the artists sculpted feathers in high relief, all of different sizes and pointing in different directions.
The amount of work that went into this sculpture should come as no surprise. Quetzalcoatl was one of the most important deities in the Aztec pantheon. In fact, the Aztecs believed he was one of the gods that played a crucial role in the creation of humanity. This association of Quetzalcoatl with creation may come from snakes’ ability to shed their skin, which caused to become powerful symbols of renewal and transformation in the Mesomaerican world.
As we discussed earlier, snakes were also seen as creatures that could travel between different cosmological realms. This belief probably came from Mesoamericans’ observations of snakes easily maneuvering between land, water, and the tops of trees. Quetzalcoatl, too, was seen as a being that symbolized the unification of the earth and sky. This statute perfectly encapsulates this belief, as Quetzalcoatl sits coiled on the ground, all the while his feathers show he can take flight at any moment.
Aztec Sculpture and the Natural World
Aztec sculptors didn’t just produce rather abstract representations of their gods. They were also keen observers of the world around them. From animals and plants, to the movement of the stars. Let’s explore the works of Aztec sculpture and statues that put these skills on full display.
Calendar Stone
The Aztec Calendar Stone is an unparalleled marvel of Aztec craftsmanship. Standing as a testament to their artistic prowess, this imposing sculpture captivates with its intricate carvings and monumental size, measuring just under 12 feet in diameter and weighing a staggering 25 tons!
Contrary to its name, the Calendar Stone was not used to keep time, but rather to tell the history of the cosmos as the Aztecs understood it.
From the middle of the disc, the face of Tonatiuh, the sun god, emerges, symbolizing the cyclical journey of life and death. Each day, Tonatiuh was believed to be reborn to traverse the heavens, only to perish with the setting sun, emblematic of the perpetual cycle of renewal inherent in Aztec religion.
Embedded within the stone’s design are symbolic representations of the Five Suns, pivotal epochs in Aztec mythology marking the progression of cosmic time. Engraved along the periphery are dates and glyphs such as 4 Jaguar, 4 Wind, 4 Rain, and 4 Water, denoting the demise of each sun and the dawn of the subsequent era. Notably, the depiction of the “earthquake” symbol, corresponding to the date 4 Movement, hints at the Aztec belief in a cataclysmic event heralding the transition to the Fifth Sun.
Commissioned by Moctezuma II following a triumphant victory over the Tepanecs, a formidable neighboring kingdom, the Calendar Stone endured the tumult of the Spanish Conquest only because it was hidden by the Aztecs. In a poignant act of reverence and ritual sacrifice, the Aztecs interred this intricately adorned ritual calendar beneath the Templo Mayor, the focal point of religious observance in Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire.
The Double Headed Serpent
Unlike other famous Aztec statues, the Double Headed Serpent was carved from wood, rather than stone. To give the snake its beautiful blue color, Aztec artisans shaped pieces of turquoise that the empire imported from what is now the southwest United States. These turquoise pieces were glued to the wooden body of the snake in recurring geometric patterns. They were precisely laid, in fact, that the snake’s body would have felt smooth to the touch.
To create the fearsome teeth of the Double Headed Serpent, artists used shells from white Strombus conch. This was a typical way of making white material for works of art in the Aztec world, as they had ready access to shell fish from Lake Texcoco and their trading partners on the coast. Finally, the red lips and nose were fashioned from thorny oyster shells.
Why exactly the Aztec created this statue is unclear. Some historians have argued, though, that it would have been worn or carried by an important person during ceremonial events.
Whatever the reason, it clearly plays with the snake motif that meant so much to Aztec art. The winding body of the snake coupled with the turquoise mosaic gives it the look of moving water or even wind. Hereagain, we see snakes associated with the earth and the sky, and the ability to cross between these two planes.
The fact that the snake has two heads (which I’m told isn’t how snakes usually look) has made some historians think this could also have been a stylized representation of an important Aztec deity. Aztec gods that often took the form of snakes included Quetzalcoatl, Xiuhcoatl (a form of the fire god), and Tlaloc (god of rain and fertility).
Eagle Cuauhxicalli
This stone sculpture of an eagle served a profound religious purpose in the Aztec empire. Known as a cuauhxicalli, it was a receptacle into which Aztec priests placed the hearts of sacrificed humans. Though this may sound macabre to the modern reader, to the Aztecs ritual sacrifice played an important role in keeping the cosmos churning.
According to Aztec religion, when the sun god Huitzilopochtli completed his journey across the sky each day, he had to travel through the underworld. To give the sun god the energy to make this harrowing journey, he needed to be fed the blood and hearts of human beings. Once this sacrifice was complete, he would rise again and make this journey through the sky, preserving life on earth.
But there’s a second bit of symbolism at work here. Eagles were also highly important Aztec symbols. In their origin story, the Aztec tell how the god Huitzilopochtli transformed into an eagle to lead them to the site where they should found their capital, Tenochtitlan. Fierce, strong predators of the skies, they became associated with Huitzilopochtli, the god of the sun and war.
Once the heart of the sacrificed into the bowl on the stone eagle’s back, the creature could (metaphorically) give the sacrifice to Huitzilopochtli.
Where archaeologists discovered this cuauhxicalli tells us even more about its importance as an Aztec artifact. During excavations in Mexico City in 1985, it was uncovered in the Templo Mayor sacred precinct. This is where the largest Aztec pyramid-temple stood, on top of which sat the most important temple to Huitzilopochtli in the entire empire. This cuauhxicalli could very well have been used by the most important priests in the Aztec world, maybe even the emperor.
Sources on Aztec Sculpture and Statues
- “Olmec Civlization,” ducation.nationalgeographic.org
- Mark Cartwright, “Olmec Colossal Stone Heads,” worldhistory.org
- “Pre-Hispanic City of Teotihuacan,” whc.unesco.org
- Maya Jiménez, PhD, “Teotihuacan,” smarthistory.org
- Davíd Carrasco with Scott Session, Daily Life of the Aztecs: People of the Sun and Earth (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1998), 175.
- “Coatlcue: Aztec Deity,” britannica.com
- Carrasco, Daily Life of the Aztecs, 175
- Joanne Pillsbury, “Serpent Labret with Articulated Tongue,” metmuseum.org
- Lauren G. Kilroy-Ewbank, PhD, “Coatlicue,” smarthistory.org
- Carrasco, Daily Life of the Aztecs, 175
- Mark Cartwright, “Coyolxauhqui,” worldhistory.org
- Lauren G. Kilroy-Ewbank, PhD, “The Templo Mayor and the Coyolxauhqui Stone,” smarthistory.org
- Ibid and Lauren G. Kilroy-Ewbank, PhD, “Templo Mayor at Tenochtitlan, the Coyolxauhqui Stone, and an Olmec Mask, khanacademy.org
- “Feathered Serpent: Formal Analysis,” aztecart2017.ace.fordham.edu
- “Sculpture zoomorphe,” collections.quaibranly.fr
- “Feathered Serpent: Iconography,” aztecart2017.ace.fordham.edu
- Ibid
- Colin McEwan, Turquoise Mosaics from Mexico (Durham: Duke University Press, 2006), 56
- “The Turquoise Mosaics,” britishmuseum.org
- Ibid
- Ibid
- McEwan, Turquoise Mosaics from Mexico, 54
- “The Turquoise Mosaics,” britishmuseum.org
- “Eagle Relief,” metmuseum.org
- Ibid
- “Eagle cuauhxicalli,” mexicolore.co.uk
