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52 22 MA FA 57PJ 1523
Ceremonial foot-shaped cups
Collection
Culture
Ancient Mexico.
Pre-Columbian Art Galleries
Zapotec
Style
-
Region
Oaxaca
Year
200-900 A.D.
Period
Classic
Technique
Modeled, sgraffito, and
painted clay
Measures
14.1 x 7.5 x 18.3 cm | 10.5 x
10.2 x 16.4 cm
Location
Artists
Gallery 4. Society and
Customs
-
Researchers
Emilie Carreón Blaine
Description
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52 22 MA FA 57PJ 1523
Clay cups were manufactured in a variety of sizes, shapes and heights, and in this case we see vessels modeled in the shape of a foot and
dressed with a sandal. At first glance it might seem like a couple of feet but upon careful observation it is evident that the vessels are not
modeled in the same way and the sandal, cactli in Nahuatl, is different. Both cactle are leather soles without heels, but one is more
elaborate. The foot wears a cactle that covers the heel with two strips that pass between the instep and the second toe, ties that rise up to
the ankle, and is carefully painted with fine lines that simulate tissues. Archaeology, painting and sculpture, the findings in various caves as
well as the testimonies of the conquistadors and missionaries are proof of the extent of the manufacture and use of footwear in
Mesoamerica over time. Early images carved in stone of the Olmec of La Venta or those made by the inhabitants of the Pacific coast in
Izapa show that the rulers and priests wore shoes while Bernardino de Sahagun recorded different types of footwear when describing the
gods of the Mexica's largest Tenochtitan Temple. They were made of wound, woven and sewed sisal fiber, or with soles made of deer hide
and jaguar hide or fox and ocelot fur. Other types of shoes were painted, decorated with feathers, or with gold leaf; also deserving individual
mention are the sandals with rubber soles called olcactli. The varied of types of footwear are confirmed by the fact that you could get
different types of footwear in the market of Tlatelolco. Sahagun himself indicates that the seller had them dyed different colors and that they
there were some beautiful works. These cups modeled in clay provide insight into footwear in Pre-Hispanic times, they are mainly containers
for drinking, and archaeologists, from examples of cups like these which have been located in the archeology of Teotihuacan and among the
Zapotec, propose that sacred liquids such as pulque or blood were drank from them. In order to understand the foregoing it is necessary to
consider the role of the representation of human body parts in Pre-Hispanic art and remember that in ancient Mexico images of body
fragments, including the Olmec, Teotihuacan, Toltec, Zapotec, Maya and Aztecs, were linked to the display of fragments of slaughtered
human bodies. These two vessels therefore do not refer to human sacrifice, and possibly were part of rituals that began with self-sacrifice
and fasts; rituals and ceremonies continued with death and the processing of the sacrificial victim by way of dismemberment, presentation of
the parts and finally its representation. In other words, figuring parts of the body, in this case disjointed feet, was the continuation of an
elaborate culminating ritual process of the immolation of the victim that was carried out to strengthen the power of the gods and the lords.
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