Artwork Page for Mural Fragment with Elite Male and Maguey Cactus Leaves

Details / Information for Mural Fragment with Elite Male and Maguey Cactus Leaves

Mural Fragment with Elite Male and Maguey Cactus Leaves

500–550

Central Mexico, Tlacuilapaxco apartment compound(?), Teotihuacán style, Classic Period

Medium
fresco on wall fragment
Measurements
Overall: 83.2 x 116.2 cm (32 3/4 x 45 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1963.252
Public Domain
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Location
233 Mesoamerican and Intermediate Region
Print
?

Did You Know?

This fragment is from a larger composition that covered the walls of a patio at Teotihuacan.

Description

This richly dressed elite male belonged to a row of identical figures who processed along the walls of a patio in one of Teotihuacán’s wealthy apartment compounds. He offers a chant or prayer, materialized in a mouth scroll, along with a flower-filled libation that cascades from one hand. In the other hand, he carries an incense bag. The thorny spines of the maguey cactus, in front and behind, may allude to the offering of precious blood and a ritual beverage made from the cactus’s sap (pulque, a less refined form of tequila). The spines are thrust into objects that may represent bundles or plots of land.
A fragment of a mural, rendered in shades of red, featuring a depiction of a heavily adorned figure in the center. On each side of the figure are upside down triangles with spikes. At the very top of the fragment, above a border with geometric designs, there is a horizontal depiction of a creature with a head on each end of its long, angular body.

Mural Fragment with Elite Male and Maguey Cactus Leaves

500–550

Central Mexico, Tlacuilapaxco apartment compound(?), Teotihuacán style, Classic Period

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