What Features Did the Aztecs and Incas Share in Their Art
The Aztec culture, centred at the capital of Tenochtitlan, dominated virtually of Mesoamerica in the 15th-16th centuries. With military conquest and merchandise expansion, the art of the Aztecs also spread, helping the Aztec culture accomplish a cultural and political hegemony over their subjects and creating for posterity a tangible record of the artistic imagination and great talent of the artists from this last groovy Mesoamerican civilisation.
Influences
Common threads run through the history of Mesoamerican civilisation and especially in art. The Olmec, Maya, Toltec, and Zapotec civilizations, amongst others, perpetuated an artistic tradition which displayed a love of monumental stone sculpture, imposing architecture, highly decorated pottery, geometric stamps for fabric and body art, and scenic metalwork which were all used to correspond people, animals, plants, gods and features of religious ceremony, especially those rites and deities connected to fertility and agriculture.
Aztec artists were also influenced past their contemporaries from neighbouring states, especially artists from Oaxaca (a number of whom permanently resided at Tenochtitlan) and the Huastec region of the Gulf Coast where there was a strong tradition of three-dimensional sculpture. These various influences and the Aztecs' own eclectic tastes and admiration of ancient art fabricated their art i of the about varied of all ancient cultures anywhere. Sculptures of gruesome gods with abstract imagery could come up from the same workshop every bit naturalistic works which depicted the beauty and grace of the creature and human form.
Features of Aztec Art
Metalwork was a item skill of the Aztecs. The great Renaissance artist Albrecht Drurer saw some of the artefacts brought dorsum to Europe which caused him to say, '...I have never seen in all my days that which so rejoiced my heart, as these things. For I saw among them amazing artistic objects, and I marvelled over the subtle ingenuity of the men in these distant lands'. Unfortunately, as with most other artefacts, these objects were melted down for currency, and so very few examples survive of the Aztecs' fine metalworking skills in gilded and silvery. Smaller items have been discovered, amongst them gold labrets (lip piercings), pendants, rings, earrings and necklaces in gold representing everything from eagles to tortoise shells to gods, which are testimony to the skills in lost-wax casting and filigree work of the finest artisans or tolteca.
The Aztecs also employed art as a tool to reinforce their military & cultural dominance across Mesoamerica.
Aztec sculpture has been a amend survivor, and its subject was very often individuals from the all-encompassing family of gods they worshipped. Carved in rock and woods these figures, sometimes monumental in size, were non idols containing the spirit of the god, as in Aztec religion the spirit of a item deity was idea to reside in sacred bundles kept within shrines and temples. However, it was thought necessary to 'feed' these sculptures with blood and precious objects, hence tales from the Spanish conquistadors of huge statues splattered with blood and encrusted with jewels and gold. Other large sculptures, more than in the round, include the magnificent seated god Xochipilli and the various chacmools, reclining figures with a hollow carved in the chest which was used as a receptacle for the hearts of sacrificial victims. These, as with nigh other Aztec sculpture, would accept once been painted using a broad range of vivid colours.
Smaller-scale sculpture has been found at sites across Central United mexican states. These often have the form of local deities and especially gods related to agriculture. The most common are upright female figures of a maize deity, typically with an impressive headdress, and the maize god Xipe Totec. Lacking the finesse of imperial-sponsored art, these sculptures and like pottery figures often stand for the more benevolent side of the Aztec gods.
Aztec Ceremonial Knife
Miniature piece of work was also popular where subjects such as plants, insects, and shells were rendered in precious materials such as carnelite, pearl, amethyst, rock crystal, obsidian, shell, and the virtually highly valued of all materials, the jewel jade. One other material which was highly prized was exotic feathers, especially the greenish plumage of the quetzal bird. Feathers cut up into small pieces were used to create mosaic paintings, as ornamentation for the shields of Aztec warriors, costumes and fans, and in magnificent headdresses such as the ane ascribed to Motecuhzoma Two which is now in the Museum für Völkerkunde in Vienna.
Turquoise was a particularly favoured material with Aztec artists, and the use of it in mosaic form to comprehend sculpture and masks has created some of the virtually striking imagery from Mesoamerica. A typical case is the decorated human skull which represents the god Tezcatlipoca and which now resides in the British Museum, London. Another fine case is the mask of Xiuhtecuhtli, the god of fire, with sleepy-looking mother-of-pearl eyes and a perfect ready of white conch trounce teeth. Finally, there is the magnificent double-headed snake pectoral, also now in the British Museum. With carved cedar wood completely covered in small squares of turquoise and the red mouths and white teeth rendered in spondylus and conch shell respectively, the piece was probably in one case function of a ceremonial costume. The snake was a strong epitome in Aztec art every bit the creature, able to shed its peel, represented regeneration and was also especially associated with the god Quetzalcoatl.
Despite the absence of the potter'due south bicycle, the Aztecs were likewise skilled with ceramics as indicated by large hollow figures and several beautifully carved lidded-urns which were excavated by the side of the Templo Mayor at Tenochtitlan, probably used equally receptacles for funeral ashes. Other examples of ceramic works are the moulded censers with tripod legs from Texcoco, spouted jugs, and elegant hourglass-shaped cups. These vessels are typically thin-walled, well proportioned, have a cream or red and blackness sideslip, and acquit finely painted geometric designs in earlier designs and flora and fauna in later on examples. The most highly-prized ceramics by the Aztecs themselves, and the blazon which Motecuhzoma himself used, were the ultra-thin Cholula ware from Cholollan in the Valley of Puebla. Vessels could besides be made from moulds or carved while the clay was still leather-hard. A fine instance of these anthropomorphic vessels is the historic vase representing the head of the rain god Tlaloc painted a vivid blue, with goggle eyes and fearsome scarlet fangs, now in the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico Metropolis.
Tlaloc
Musical instruments were another important office of the Aztec artist'southward repertoire. These included ceramic flutes and wooden teponaztlis and huehuetls, respectively, long and upright ceremonial drums. They are richly decorated with carvings, and one of the finest is the Malinalco drum which is covered in dancing jaguars and eagles who represent sacrificial victims every bit indicated by banners and speech scrolls of warfare and burn symbols.
Art equally Propaganda
The Aztecs, as with their cultural predecessors, employed art as a tool to reinforce their military and cultural authority. Imposing buildings, frescoes, sculpture and even manuscripts, specially at such primal sites every bit Tenochtitlan, not only represented and even replicated the cardinal elements of Aztec faith, but they besides reminded field of study peoples of the wealth and power which permitted their structure and manufacture.
The supreme example of this use of art as a conveyor of political and religious messages is the Templo Mayor at Tenochtitlan which was much more than than a hugely impressive pyramid. It was carefully designed in every particular to represent the sacred snake mount of the world Coatepec, so important in Aztec faith and mythology. This mount was the site where Coatlicue (the globe) gave birth to her son Huitzilopochtli (the sunday), who defeated the other gods (the stars) led by his sister Coyolxauhqui (the moon). A temple to Huitzilopochtli was built on tiptop of the pyramid along with some other in honour of the rain god Tlaloc. Further associations with the myth are the snake sculptures lining the base and the Great Coyolxauhqui Stone carved in c. 1473, as well found at the base of operations of the pyramid and which represents in relief the dismembered body of the fallen goddess. The stone, along with other such sculptures every bit the Tizoc Stone, related this cosmic imagery to the contemporary defeat of local enemies. In the case of the Coyolxauhqui Stone, the defeat of the Tlatelolca is existence referenced. Finally, the Templo Mayor was itself a repository of art as, when its interior was explored, a vast hoard of sculpture and art objects were discovered entombed with the remains of the dead and these pieces are, in many cases, works that the Aztecs had themselves collected from more than aboriginal cultures than their own.
Tizoc Rock
Temples extolling the Aztec view of the world were also constructed in conquered territories. The Aztecs unremarkably left existing political and administrative structures in identify, simply they did impose their own gods in a hierarchy higher up local deities, and this was largely done through architecture and fine art, backed upward with sacrificial ceremonies at these new sacred places, typically constructed on previous sacred sites and oftentimes in spectacular settings such equally on mountain peaks.
The Sun Stone was carved c. 1427 & shows a solar disk which presents the 5 consecutive worlds of the dominicus from Aztec mythology.
Aztec imagery which spread across the empire includes many lesser-known deities than Huitzilopochtli and at that place are a surprising number of examples of nature and agricultural gods. Perhaps the well-nigh famous are the reliefs of the water goddess Chalchiuhtlicue on the Malinche Colina near aboriginal Tula. These and other works of Aztec art were most often made by local artists and may take been commissioned by authorities representing the country or by private colonists from the Aztec heartland. Architectural art, stone carvings of gods, animals and shields, and other art objects take been found beyond the empire from Puebla to Veracruz and especially effectually cities, hills, springs, and caves. Further, these works are ordinarily unique, suggesting the absence of any organised workshops.
Masterpieces
The large circular Stone of Tizoc (carved c. 1485 from basalt) is a masterful mix of cosmic mythology and real-earth politics. It was originally used as a surface on which to perform human sacrifice and as these victims were normally defeated warriors it is entirely advisable that the reliefs around the edge of the stone depict the Aztec ruler Tizoc attacking warriors from the Matlatzinca, an area conquered past Tizoc in the late 15th century CE. The defeated are also portrayed as Chichimecs i.eastward. landless barbarians, whilst the victors wear the noble clothes of the revered aboriginal Toltec. The upper surface of the rock, two.67 m in diameter, depicts an viii-pointed sun-disk. The Stone of Tizoc at present resides in the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.
Coatlicue
The massive basalt statue of Coatlicue (carved in the terminal half-century of Aztec dominion) is widely considered ane of the finest examples of Aztec sculpture. The goddess is presented in terrifying course with two snakeheads, clawed feet and hands, a necklace of dismembered hands and human hearts with a skull pendant, and wearing a skirt of writhing snakes. Peradventure one of a group of four and representing the revelation of female power and terror, the iii.five g high statue leans slightly forward then that the overall dramatic issue of the piece is so emotive that it is understandable why the statue was actually re-buried several times following its original excavation in 1790. The statue of Coatlicue now resides in the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico Metropolis.
The Sun Stone, also known as the Aztec Calendar Stone (despite the fact that information technology is not a functioning calendar), must be the most recognisable art object produced past any of the great civilizations of Mesoamerica. Discovered in the 18th century near the cathedral of Mexico City, the rock was carved c. 1427 and shows a solar disk which presents the five sequent worlds of the sunday from Aztec mythology. The basalt rock is 3.78 m in bore, almost a metre thick and was once part of the Templo Mayor complex of Tenochtitlan. At the centre of the rock is a representation of either the sun god Tonatiuh (the Day Sun) or Yohualtonatiuh (the Night Sun) or the primordial earth monster Tlaltecuhtli, in the latter instance representing the terminal devastation of the globe when the 5th sun fell to earth. Around the primal face at four points are the other four suns which successively replaced each other after the gods Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca struggled for control of the cosmos until the era of the 5th sun was reached. On either side of the central face up are 2 jaguar heads or paws, each clutching a heart, representing the terrestrial realm. The two heads at the bottom centre represent burn down serpents, and their bodies run around the perimeter of the stone with each ending in a tail. The four cardinal and the inter-cardinal directions are also indicated with larger and lesser points respectively.
Aztec Sun Stone
Equally one final example of the wealth of Aztec fine art which has survived the best subversive efforts of their conquerors, at that place is the life-sized eagle warrior from Tenochtitlan. The figure, seemingly almost to have flying, is in terra cotta and was made in iv split up pieces. This Hawkeye Knight wears a helmet representing the bird of prey, has wings and even clawed feet. Remains of stucco suggest that the effigy was in one case covered in real feathers for an even more life-like effect. Originally, it would have stood with a partner, either side of a doorway.
Determination
Following the fall of the Aztec Empire the production of ethnic art went into decline. Notwithstanding, some designs of the Aztec culture lived on in the work of local artists employed by Augustinian friars to decorate their new churches during the 16th century. Manuscripts and feather paintings as well connected to be produced, but it was not until the late 18th century that an interest in Precolumbian fine art and history would lead to a more systematic investigation of but what lay under the foundations of modern Mexican cities. Slowly, an ever-growing number of Aztec artefacts have revealed, in example in that location had e'er been any doubt, proof-positive evidence that the Aztecs were amongst the nigh ambitious, creative, and eclectic artists that Mesoamerica had ever produced.
This article has been reviewed for accuracy, reliability and adherence to academic standards prior to publication.
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Source: https://www.worldhistory.org/Aztec_Art/
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