Oro y plumas, divina fusión

In Mesoamerica, at least since the Classic period (900-1200 CE), feathers were omnipresent. They were used to create garments, a wide variety of ornaments, insignia, artifacts, and architectural elements. It is thanks to the records in painting and sculpture that we can gain insight into the objects adorned with multicolored feathers, which, in their luxury versions, incorporated gold components. Of this “universe of feathers and gold,” only a few examples remain, making it seem impossible to speak of the thousands of objects that have vanished from the tangible world. In this context, we present the practical, formal, and symbolic consequences of the technical strategies employed in the creation of three surviving objects: a cuexyo chimalli, or Huastec shield; a round shield depicting a feathered canid; and a headdress known as Moctezuma’s Headdress. Currently, the first is housed in the National Museum of History in Mexico City, and the other two in the Weltmuseum Wien. All three pieces have been associated with the Mexica culture and central Mexico; they date to the late 15th and early 16th centuries; and they were crafted from raw materials of plant, animal, and mineral origin, most notably thousands of multicolored bird feathers and ornaments of laminated gold. Various research projects, led by conservation-restoration specialists and supported by laboratories equipped for the study of cultural artifacts (in Mexico and Austria), have resulted in the characterization of the three pieces. This work takes into account the information published on each of these objects since 2007 to make comparative analyses and analogies that reflect the fusion of two outstanding Mesoamerican artistic traditions: featherwork and goldsmithing.

Assemblage (archaeology) · Ornaments · Painting · Sculpture · Variety (cybernetics) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Latin American history and culture · Mexican Socioeconomic and Environmental Dynamics

• The Technology of Enchantment and the Enchantment of Technology

  Alfred Gell•Anthropology, art, and aesthetics•1992

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