Teotihuacan is referred to as the city of the gods.
By 600 A.D. it was the sixth largest city in the
world. Situated in a temperate, fertile basin its
fame spread as quickly as its prosperity, with
well-established trade routes and a culture that
is still impressive today. With a booming
economy an urban elite arose fostering
intellectual activity, monumental building and
the belief Teotihuacan was where the cosmos
and the present cycle of life began. The
concept of monumentality can apply not only to
great architectural structures such as the Pyramid
of the Sun, but also to much smaller objects
which have an intensity that makes them larger
than life. This very lovely mask falls into that
category. There is a mystery surrounding this
type of mask in the fact they are believed to have
been part of funerary furniture, yet none have
been found in burial chambers. Rather, they have
been discovered near temples and complexes
aligning the Street of the Dead. It is speculated
they were attached to wooden armatures in
temples to represent deities who are in the
process of becoming gods. Hence the four drill
holes. They may also have been worn on the arm
as an insignia of an important person. The
surface of the green stone emits palpable
warmth; its face is full of compassion and
serenity as if in a state of meditation. The small
dot-like indentations in the eyes once contained
mirror-like pyrite that would have caught the
light with dazzling effect. Seeing this beautiful
sculpture it is easy to imagine a secret ceremony
in a temple with torches burning and masks
hanging everywhere like faces from another
world peering through the veil of incense.
- (PF.4519)
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