Wooden ceremonial shield with mosaic inlay
Mexica*/Mixtec, 15th-16th century AD
From Mexico
An intricate mosaic which illustrates the
Mexica universe
This mosaic covered wooden disc was probably
once the central element of a striking ceremonial shield.
Among the many ceremonial shields listed in inventories of
shipments sent to Spain by Hernán Cortés (1485-1547) 25 were
decorated with turquoise mosaic. A companion of Cortés, the
’anonymous conqueror’, observed that mosaic shields were ‘not
of the kind borne in war but only those used in the festivals and
dances which they are accustomed to have’.
The mosaic on this shield is worked in
turquoise and shell from Strombus (conch),
Spondylus (thorny oyster) and Pinctada (mother-of
pearl). ‘Beads’ of pine resin covered with gold leaf are also used
in the design which portrays the principal divisions of
the Mexica universe. At the centre is a solar disc, picked out
in bright red Spondylus shell. The four rays emanating
from the solar disc divide the earth into four quarters. In each
quarter stands a figure with raised arms, these are skybearers,
gods whose role was to support the sky. The shield also displays a
vertical design in the form of a serpent which emerges from toothed
jaws and coils around a tree. The tree represents a 'world axis'
connecting the underworld, earthly and celestial realms.
Pine was a source both of the resin adhesive
used on this shield and the wood from which it was carved. The
surface of the wood was carved to delineate the design by giving
relief prominence to certain elements such as the serpent and the
skybearers. Numerous perforations in the shield further emphasise
the outlines of the skybearers.
Around the edge of the shield the wood is not
decorated but is pierced by a series of fairly regularly spaced
holes. These may have been used to attach feathers. According to
sixteenth-century descriptions, coloured feathers were used to
decorate the edges of mosaic shields.
*The people and culture we know as 'Aztec' referred to
themselves as the Mexica (pronounced Me-shee-ka).
C. McEwan, A. Middleton, C.R. Cartwright, R.
Stacey Turquoise mosaics from Mexico (London, The
British Museum Press, 2006)
C. R. Cartwright and N. D. Meeks, ‘Aztec conch
shell working: high- tech design’, British Museum Technical
Research Bulletin 1, (2007), 35-42
R. J. Stacey, C. R. Cartwright and C. McEwan
‘Chemical Characterisation of Ancient Mesoamerican ‘Copal’ Resins:
Preliminary Results’. Archaeometry 48, (2006), 323-340
C. McEwan, Ancient Mexico
in the British Museum (London, The British Museum
Press, 1994)