Some of the figures are richly attired whilst others are almost naked. Some chacmools were raised upon rectangular bases. The figure may be lying on its back or on its side and the abdomen can be sunken below the level of the chest and knees or at the same level. There is great variation among individual chacmools, with some possessing heads that are right-facing and others left-facing, and some with the heads facing upwards some examples have movable heads. The chacmool is a distinctive form of Mesoamerican sculpture representing a reclining figure with its head facing 90 degrees from the front, leaning on its elbows and supporting a bowl or a disk upon its chest. The chacmool form of sculpture first appeared around the 9th century AD in the Valley of Mexico and the northern Yucatán Peninsula. Their symbolism placed them on the frontier between the physical and supernatural realms, as intermediaries with the gods. Īztec chacmools bore water imagery and were associated with Tlaloc, the rain god. Chacmools were often associated with sacrificial stones or thrones. In an Aztec example, the receptacle is a cuauhxicalli (a stone bowl to receive sacrificed human hearts). These figures possibly symbolised slain warriors carrying offerings to the gods the bowl upon the chest was used to hold sacrificial offerings, including pulque, tamales, tortillas, tobacco, turkeys, feathers and incense. Maya chacmool from Chichen Itza displayed at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico CityĪ chacmool (also spelled chac-mool) is a form of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican sculpture depicting a reclining figure with its head facing 90 degrees from the front, supporting itself on its elbows and supporting a bowl or a disk upon its stomach.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |