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Ceramic sculpture of a tomb guardian beast (zhenmushou) with tricolor glaze. Shaanxi, China, Tang dynasty, around 900 AD.

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900 a.d inspired

Refrances and sketch bellow

This clay statue of Mictlantecuhtli is something I only recently noticed while scanning the digital collections of the Museum of Anthroplogy of Xalapa. They do an excellent job of digitally documenting their holdings and it’s a really fascinating place to just scroll through.

This particular sculpture was found in a ceremonial landfill, and embodies Mictlantecuhtli the Aztec god of the Dead and King of Mictlan, the lowest section of the Aztec underworld. It measures 37 cm tall and is made of clay. It was crafted at some point between 600 and 900 AD, during the Late Classical era of the Aztec empire. I’m sure I don’t need to say that this sculpture is also gorgeous, and the way it sits with its elbows on its knees gives it a sadistic quality that really draws you into it.

As for Mictantecuhtli himself, the diety is often depicted as a blood-splattered skeleton or a person wearing a skull. He was associated with spiders, owls, bats, the 11th hour of the day, the northern compass direction, and the Aztec region of death. Sometimes his head itself is a skull, with his eye socket still containing functioning eyeballs. His headdresses often were decorated with owl feathers, and he wore a necklace of human eyes. Interestingly, he is also usually depicted with his arms outstretched, indicating a readiness to tear apart the dead if they came close, but this sculpture seems to be the exception. He also tends to have his mouth open, indicating a readiness to devour the stars each night (part of the Aztec mythos for how night and day occur). Finally, Mictantecuhtli was also married. He and his wife, Mictecacihuatl lived in a windowless house in the underworld.