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The Pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents. While technically referring to the era before Christopher Columbus, in practice the term usually includes the history of American indigenous cultures until they were conquered or significantly influenced by Europeans, even if this happened decades or even centuries after Columbus' initial landing. Precolumbian is used especially often in the context of the great indigenous civilizations of the Americas, such as those of Mesoamerica (the Olmec, the Toltec, the Teotihuacano, the Zapotec, the Mixtec, the Aztec, and the Maya) and the Andes (Inca, Moche, Chibcha, Ca-aris). -- From Wikipedia
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Chupicuaro Fertility Figurine Statue (ca 500-100BC)
The oldest known culture in the West of Mexico is the Chupicuaro (named after the archaeological site in the Lima basin). Only a few ruins and stone utensils remained from the society. The many skulls and beheaded skeletons tell us that is was not a very peaceful society. However, the ceramic tradition of the Chupicuaro is one of the best known of Central America. Most of the famous three-colored pottery is found in graves. It consists of geometrically decorated vases and vessels in all forms, but also of animal and human figurines that are decorated in a similar way.
Normally, female figurines are usually extremely broad-hipped, probably as a symbol of fertility. We know from related cultures that they are also associated with the fertility of the earth and the changing of the seasons.
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| Chupicuaro Fertility Statue reproduction is made from resin with hand painted color details to resemble terracotta pottery painting. Measures: 5.5"H x 4"W x 2.5"D. PN# AME01
Part of the Parastone Mouseion 3D Collection of museum replicas and cultural artifacts.
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PN# 7117
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Mayan Death and Rebirth Ages of Man Holder with 4 Coasters Set
This Mayan Death and Rebirth Mask Coaster Holder shows the different stages of life as part of a never ending cycle of human evolution through life and the afterlife as it was understood by the Mayans. The mask has three layered faces, each representing one particular stage of life. The inner face represents the beginning of life at birth. The middle face is the most important one since it represents the adult stage when the person comes into his full potential and most of his life experiences happened. The outer or third face represents the end of earthly life.
Made from bonded bronze, includes 4 coasters. Coaster holder is 5"H x 3.5"D x 5.25"W. Coasters are 4" diameter.
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PN# 7118
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Mayan Head Ceremonial BoxAdapted from ritual images of Mayan kings, this is an unusual theme desk box with a portrait of a ceremonial king. Store your valuables inside and have them guarded by a Mayan King!
Mayan Head Ceremonial Box is made from from resin with a bronze finish, 4"H x 4"W x 4"D.
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Precolumbian Aztec Double-Headed Serpent Relief (15th century) now in the collection of the British Museum, London. Splendid relic of the Aztecs, who rose from squalid origins to power and riches in just 200 years, this double-headed rattlesnake serpent was used as a ceremonial chest ornament that may have been worn by a priest. The original is encrusted with scales of turquoise, a stone the Aztecs imported from the outposts of their empire to adorn some of their most beautiful possessions. This piece is the work of a Mixtec jeweler and dates from the 15th century. Mixtec craftsmanship was highly prized; an entire enclave of artisans from this culture lived in the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. In mesoamerican culture, serpents were very important religious symbols, the shedding of their skin made them a symbol of rebirth and renewal. One of the main mesoamerican deities, Quetzalcoatl, was represented as a feathered serpent.
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Mayan Vision Serpent Relief
Yaxchilan, Mexico. 755 A.D. The maya vision serpent symbolizes the passage of ancestral spirits and the gods of Xibalba (the maya underworld) into our world. In states of ecstasy and usually following penis or tongue bloodletting, particularly as graphically depicted at Yaxchilan, maya mobility invoke the vision serpent. This Mayan wall relief depicts a version with a single head and personified blood scrolls attached to its tail. The Maya Serpent is made from bonded stone, antique stone finish, ready to hang, indoor or outdoor use, 8"H x 6"W x 1"D. P-007S
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Maya Vision Serpent Large Wall Relief
During special ceremonies, bloody papers were burnt in a sacred bowl and from it, this great undulating serpent rises and from its mouth emerges an ancestor or, occasionally, a deity. The serpent itself then, is probably what one sees in the clouds of smoke rising from the burning sacrifice, and cloud symbols may flank the vision serpent's body. Made from bonded stone in an antique stone finish, this amazing Mayan wall plaque measures 19.5"H. P-016S
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Maya Vision Serpent Large Colored Wall Relief
The vision serpent can be the vehicle by which ancestors or deities make themselves manifest to humanity. This sculpture depicts a version with a single head and personified blood scrolls attached to its tail. Made from bonded stone with an antique stone finish and hand-painted color details. This Mayan wall hanging measures 19.5"H. P-016SP
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Aztec Solar Calendar
Antrop. Museum, Mexico City, 1500 AD, wall hanging relief, stone and resin, antique sandstone finish, indoor or outdoor use, ready to hang.
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Small: 11" diameter,
P-090S
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Large: 17" diameter,
P-001S
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The Pre-Columbian Aztec Calendar set out the mathematical formulas according to which the whole universe was organized and which governed the actions of men and Gods alike. The calendar is actually two: the Xiupohualli or the count of the days and the Tonalpohualli or the count of destiny. The calendar had to be consulted through the priests before engaging in any activity whether it was farming, warfare, religion or commerce. In addition to the count of the days, it also has astronomical data like the phases of the moon and Venus and the years of Mercury and Mars. The calendar also mentions the four eras of humanity known as "suns" before our own: all ended in cataclysm. The sun that is now ours, the fifth one, Nahui Ollin ("four earthquake") is supposed to end by cataclysmic earthquakes. The Aztecs attributed the invention of the calendar to the God Quetzalcoatl. The original calendar weighs 25 tons and has a diameter of eleven feet.
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Maya Ball Player Circular Relief
From Palenque, Mexico 590 A.D. Surrounded by hieroglyphs, an ancient ball player demonstrates his skill and strength. The player's ability to manipulate and move the ball into stone rings, without the use of hands, was played to honor the gods with skill. The ball game represented the movements of the heavens for many pre-Hispanic peoples and, for the Maya, the game (called Ulama) had a religious significance. Made frrom bonded stone with an antique stone finish, this dynamic wall plaque measures 12"H. P-014S
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Lid of the Sarcophagus of Palenque
1952, in the city of Palenque, in a temple on top of a pyramid, the archaeologist Albert Lluillier found access to a funerary crypt that houses the sarcophagus of King Pacal Votan the Great (615-683 AD). Wall hanging relief, bonded stone, green finish with brown highlights, ready to hang, 14.5"H. P-091S
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The Soviet scientist Alexander Kazantev came out with the theory that the relief on the lid of the sarcophagus represents an astronaut and his spaceship but according to the Mayan legend, the symbology of the lid shows King Pacal falling into the jaws of the Earth monster each night to rise again with the power of the sun each morning. The pillar-like construction above Pacal's head is the Tree of Life. The original lid is twelve feet long.
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Pacal Mayan King Bust
Palenque, Mexico. 692 A.D. King Pacal (also known as Pacal the Great) was born in the year 603 A.D. He was king of the Maya Kingdom of Palenque and is said to have reigned for 67 years until his death at the age of 80. The name Pacali means shield in the Maya language. Pacal expanded Palenque's power in the western part of the Maya states, and initiated a building program at his capital that produced some of the finest art and architecture of the Maya civilization. He was preceded as ruler of Palenque by his mother Lady Zac-Kuk. As the Palenque dynasty seems to have had Queens only when there was no eligible male heir, Zac-Kuk transfered rulership to her son upon his official maturity. He ascended the throne at age 12 on 29 July, 615 A.D. After his death, Pacal the Great was worshiped as a god, and said to communicate with his descendants. His elaborate temple tomb had a stairway down to his crypt, and after this was sealed up it had a long speaking tube connected to the temple atop the step-pyramid. The lid of Pacal's tomb, referred to by some as The lid of Palenque, is the most photographed, reproduced and written about stone work of its kind. Reproduction is made from from bonded stone, stone finish, measures 11"H. P-018S
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Mayan Feathered Head of Quetzalcoatl Wall Hanging
Pyramid of Quetzalcoaltl, Teotihuacan, Mexico. 300 A.D. One of the great Gods of Ancient Mesoamerica, Quetzalcoatl is a synthesis of serpent and bird. The name means "quetzal serpent". The quetzal was a sacred bird of very beautiful feathers which were used in elite and ritual costumes. Mayan relief is made from bonded stone, antique sandstone finish, ready to hang, 7"H x 7"W x 6"D. P-008S
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| Quetzalcoatl, the patron of ruler ship, had several incarnations, the most important were as a creator god, as Ehecatl, the God of Wind; as the Morning Star; and as Topiltzin, a semi-human ruler, unique among the Gods. The priestly Quetzalcoatl was often contrasted to his dark shamanic brother Tezcatlipoca, the God of war, and their relation veer between enmity and alliance. According to Aztec and Maya creation accounts, after the great floods ended the era of the Fourth Sun, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca raised the heavens and create the Earth. Since no people inhabit the earth, Quetzalcoatl descended to the underworld to retrieve the remains of the people destroyed by the flood. Their bones were ground like corn into a fine meal and upon it the gods let their blood, thus creating the flesh of the present race and the era of the Fifth Sun. |
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Aztec Moon Goddess Coyolxauhqui Wall Hanging
Temple Mayor Museum, Mexico City. 1400 A.D. The original sculpture, 10 feet in diameter, is one of the most impresive and important examples of Aztec art. Her name is Coyolxauhqui, which means "She of the Rattles on her Cheeks". She was also called one who "spoke to all the centipedes and spiders and transformed herself into a sorceress" or a "very evil woman". She was one of the major goddesses in Aztec mythology. Bonded stone, antique sandstone finish, ready to hang, 11" diameter, P-003S
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Toltec Atlantean Warrior Statue
The Toltecs ruled much of Maya central Mexico from the tenth to twelfth centuries A.D. The Toltecs were the last dominant Mesoamerican culture before the Aztecs, and inherited much from Maya civilization. The Toltec capital was at Tula, 80 kilometres north of Mexico City. The most impressive Toltec ruins, however, are at Chichén Itzá in Yucatán, where a branch of Toltec culture survived beyond the civilization's fall in central Mexico. The Toltec Atlantean Warrior is made from bonded stone and measures 14.5”H. P-012S
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Mayan Tablet of the Foliated Tree of Life
Temple of the Foliated Cross, Palenque, Mexico. 698 A.D. The original of this tablet is located in the temple of the foliated cross, one of the three temples in Palenque, known as the Group of the Cross, built by King Chan-Bahlum to commemorate and celebrate his accession rites to the throne after the death of his father, king Pacal. The tablet shows Chan Bahlum on the left side, dressed simply with a loin cloth and his long hair wrapped in readiness to don the heavy headdress of kingship. His father Pacal stands on the other side, dressed in burial apparel. Pacal holds the insignia of royal power, the passing of authority will occur at the end of ten days of accession rites. In the center we see a variant of the tree of life formed by a maize plant rising from a band of water and the Kan-cross Waterlily Monster, which symbolizes the waters of the earth as the source of life. In the crown of the tree sits a huge water bird wearing the mask of the Celestial Bird. The branches of the tree are ears of maize manifested as human heads since in Maya tradition, human flesh was made from maize dough. Pacal is shown giving to his son a personified bloodletter, an instrument for bloodletting rituals and vision quests. It drew the blood of the King and brought on the trance that opened the portal to Shivalva (the Maya underworld) and brought forth the Gods. Ready to hang, made from bonded stone, and measures 13”H x 19”W. P-011S
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View more Precolumbian Art: Page 2 - Precolumbian Art
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