Sculpture of four columns with a recumbent figure on top and a staircase on the base.
Sculpture of four columns with a recumbent figure on top and a staircase on the base.

About the Object

This Mezcala-style object was carved by its unknown artist in unidentified light green stone that is most likely serpentine. It depicts four columns, stairs, and a platform, leading scholars to believe these types of Mezcala pieces depict temples or important architectural sites. The human-like Mezcala figure lying on the top of the temple may represent links with astronomy, sacrifice, fertility, death, and the afterlife.

 

Additional Information

While the abstract forms of the Mezcala and Chontal tradition have led many scholars to view them as primitive, in reality they reflect a great deal of cultural complexity, including agriculture, spirituality, ritual trade, social differentiation, and even a complex grasp of physics.

[Throckmorton Fine Art, New York, NY];

New York. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Design for Eternity: Architectural Models from the Ancient Americas, October 26, 2015-September 18, 2016.

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