Artwork Page for Seated Male Carrying Maize

Details / Information for Seated Male Carrying Maize

Seated Male Carrying Maize

1325–1521

Central Mexico, Aztec style, 13th-16th century

Medium
stone, pigment
Measurements
Overall: 31.1 x 24.1 x 30.5 cm (12 1/4 x 9 1/2 x 12 in.)
Credit Line
The Norweb Collection 1949.555
Public Domain
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Location
233 Mesoamerican and Intermediate Region
Print
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Did You Know?

Macuilxochitl is one of five gods of excess pleasure, and the punishment that follows.

Description

This figure probably represents an Aztec deity-either Macuilxochitl or Xochipilli-whose domain was beauty, the arts, and such pleasures as gameplaying, dancing, and sex. Both names include the Aztec word for "flower," and in one hand the figure holds a cone of flowers, perhaps the blossoming crown of a cactus. For the Aztecs, flowers signified beauty, refinement, and fertility in general and sexuality in particular. The burden of maize cobs on his back also may allude to his creative energies.
A rough-hewn stone sculpture depicts a figure seated cross-legged, raising their right knee and leaning on the left as they hold a cone of flowers in their left hand, putting them next to their lips. There are pigmented pink and blue flowers around their head. The mouth of their loosely detailed face is open, eyes angled up, and, in their right hand, they hold a cylinder pigmented with red at the top.

Seated Male Carrying Maize

1325–1521

Central Mexico, Aztec style, 13th-16th century

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