Aztec Green Stone Goddess

William Spratling, Taxco 

Walter Chrysler, New York and Virginia

James Lepere

Alphonse Jax, New York

European Private Collection, acquired from the above by the early to mid 1970s

Thence by descent

Geneva, Musée Rath, Mexique, terre des dieux. Trésors de l'art précolombien, October 8, 1998 - January 24, 1999

Gerald Berjonneau, Emile Deletaille, and Jean-Louis Sonnery, Rediscovered Masterpieces of Mesoamerica, Boulogne, 1985, p. 136, fig. 192

Henri Stierlin and Irène de Charrière, Mexique, terre des dieux. Trésors de l'art précolombien, Geneva, 1998, p. 248, no. 278

The large natural block of polished greenstone carved with an anthropomorphic depiction of the seated Tlaloc, Nuhuapilli, god of rain and fertility, recognizable by the fanged mouth and the elaborate headdress incorporating pleated paper side flanges and streamers down the back, the body encircled by scallop-shaped motifs, the reverse engraved with a rudimentary anthropomorphic physiognomy sporting a bow-like device on the neck and a bib, possibly an allusion to a protective device; the base painted in black with ‘CHALCHIUTLICUE TEZCACUITLAN’

The present sculpture forms part of a small group of unevenly-shaped cobbles which capture the raw strength of stone transforming into a sculptural representation. See Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966:361; Field Museum, Chicago, no. 48091; and Saint Louis Art Museum, 394.1978 to cite a few.

Various types of green stone, including jade, were traditionally associated with Tlaloc. The stone’s intense green is reminiscent of water, the precious substance that sustained the agricultural peoples of ancient Mesoamerica. For the Aztecs, Tlaloc was an ancient fertility god, whose worship went back to the revered civilization of Teotihuacan. Its cult was considered highly important and in the divinatory calendars, Tlaloc was the eighth ruler of the days and the ninth lord of the nights.