Stone sculpture of
Tlazolteotl
Huastec, Postclassic, AD
900-1521
From Mexico
Fertility is a recurring theme in Huastec art,
represented by stone sculptures of female goddesses, elderly men
and phalluses. The female figures share similar characteristics,
such as a rigid posture, hands over their stomachs, bare breasts,
and usually wear a skirt and large headdress. The headdress is
generally composed of a rectangular section with a conical cap on
top and a fan-shaped crest, as shown on this
sculpture.
These female
deities are related to Tlazolteotl, an earth goddess also
associated with filth and carnal sin. Her name comes from
tlazolli, which means
'filth' in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, and
teotl, a broad term for
'deity'. She was venerated by the Aztecs, who
conquered the Gulf Coast in the fifteenth century, during the reign
of Motecuhzoma I (1440-69). The Aztec king consecrated a new
extension of the Templo Mayor (Great Temple) with a ceremony in
which a large number of Huastec captives were sacrificed in honour
of Xipe Totec, the god of fertility. Several gods revered by Aztecs
were worshipped earlier in the Gulf Coast and other areas, and were
added to the Aztec pantheon.
L. López Luján, The offerings of the Templo Ma (University Press of Colorado, 1994)
E.P. Benson and E.H. Boone, The art and iconography of lat (Washington, D.C., Trustees for Harvard University, 1982)
C. McEwan, Ancient Mexico in the British (London, The British Museum Press, 1994)
F.F. Berdan and others, Aztec imperial strategies (Washington, D.C., Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1996)