The ''Double-headed serpent'' is an

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...

sculpture. It is a

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more ...

with two heads composed of mostly

turquoise Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrated phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula . It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gemstone and ornamental stone for thousands of year ...

pieces applied to a wooden base. It came from Aztec Mexico and might have been worn or displayed in religious ceremonies. The mosaic is made of pieces of

, spiny oyster shell and conch shell.Double-Headed Serpent

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

, accessed September 2010 The sculpture is at the

Description

The sculpture is of an undulating serpent with heads on each side. A single block of cedar wood ('' Cedrela odorata'') forms the sculpture's base. The back side has been hollowed out, possibly to make the sculpture lighter. The back, once gilded, is now plain, and only the heads have decorations on both sides. The outer body of the two-headed snake is covered in a mosaic of turquoise, accented by red spiny oyster. Turquoise stones were broken in small, flat

tesserae A tessera (plural: tesserae, diminutive ''tessella'') is an individual tile, usually formed in the shape of a square, used in creating a mosaic. It is also known as an abaciscus or abaculus. Historical tesserae The oldest known tessera ...

and adhered to the wooden body with pine resin. By using 2,000 small pieces, the flat pieces of stone give the impression of a faceted, curvilinear surface. The turquoise was cut and ground using stone tools. Some of the turquoise was imported to Mesoamerica from approximately 1,600 km to the northwest, from the

Four Corners Region The Four Corners is a region of the Southwestern United States consisting of the southwestern corner of Colorado, southeastern corner of Utah, northeastern corner of Arizona, and northwestern corner of New Mexico. The Four Corners area ...

Oasisamerica Oasisamerica is a term that was coined by Paul Kirchhoff (who also coined "Mesoamerica") and published in a 1954 article, and is used by some scholars, primarily Mexican anthropologists, for the broad cultural area defining pre-Columbian sout ...

where the Ancestral Pueblo people mined the stone. The heads of the serpents have holes for eyes, and remaining traces of

beeswax Beeswax (''cera alba'') is a natural wax produced by honey bees of the genus ''Apis''. The wax is formed into scales by eight wax-producing glands in the abdominal segments of worker bees, which discard it in or at the hive. The hive work ...

and

resin In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on n ...

may have once held objects representing eyes, possibly orbs of

iron pyrite The mineral pyrite (), or iron pyrite, also known as fool's gold, is an iron sulfide with the chemical formula Fe S2 (iron (II) disulfide). Pyrite is the most abundant sulfide mineral. Pyrite's metallic luster and pale brass-yellow hue giv ...

(Fool's Gold). The vivid contrast of the red and white details on the head have been made from

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not ...

shell and conch shell respectively.Turquoise mosaics from Mexico
Colin McEwan, p.32-3, 2003, British Museum, accessed 29 August 2010 Cleverly, the adhesive used to attach the '' Spondylus princeps'' shell has been colored with red iron oxide ( hematite) to complete the design. The white shell used for the teeth comes from shells of the edible queen conch.

Provenance

It is not known how this sculpture left Mexico, but it is considered possible that it was among the goods obtained by conquistador Hernán Cortés when he took the interior of Mexico for the Spanish crown. Cortés arrived on the coast of what is now Mexico in 1519, and after battles he entered the capital on November 8, 1519 and was met with respect, if not favour, by the Aztec ruler Moctezuma II (Montezuma). Some sources report that Moctezuma thought that Cortés was the feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl and treated him accordingly. Cortés was given a number of valuable gifts, which included turquoise sculptures, and possibly this serpent. Despite the gifts and the peaceful reception, Moctezuma was taken prisoner by Cortés and his troops took Moctezuma's capital,

Tenochtitlan , ; es, Tenochtitlan also known as Mexico-Tenochtitlan, ; es, México-Tenochtitlan was a large Mexican in what is now the historic center of Mexico City. The exact date of the founding of the city is unclear. The date 13 March 1325 was ...

, by 1521. The Aztecs were brutally and systematically enslaved and murdered, in spite of their generosity. They then fell victim to

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

and other European diseases brought to Mexico by Cortés and his troops. The Cortés antiquities arrived in Europe in the 1520s and caused great interest; however, it is said that other turquoise mosaics ended their days in jewellers' shops in Florence where they were dismantled to make more contemporary objects.

Neil Macgregor Robert Neil MacGregor (born 16 June 1946) is a British art historian and former museum director. He was editor of the ''Burlington Magazine'' from 1981 to 1987, then Director of the National Gallery, London, from 1987 to 2002, Director of th ...

credits

Henry Christy Henry Christy (26 July 1810 – 4 May 1865) was an English banker and collector, who left his substantial collections to the British Museum. Early life Christy was born at Kingston upon Thames, the second son of William Miller Christy of Woodbi ...

with gathering similar artifacts into the British Museum.Turquoise mosaics from Mexico
Colin McEwan, Introduction by Neil MacGregor, p.3, 2003, British Museum, accessed 28 August 2010 The sculpture is at the British Museum, purchased from whereabouts unknown by the Christy Fund.

Significance

This sculpture is one of nine Mexican turquoise mosaics in the British Museum. There are considered to be only 25 Mexican turquoise mosaics in Europe from this period.Mexican turquoise mosaics
British Museum, accessed 28 August 2010 Many theories suggest the symbolic significance of the serpent imagery. It has been proposed that the serpent was a symbol of rebirth because of its ability to shed its old skin and appear as a reborn snake. It may have been a representation of the earth and underworld with each head representing one. The snake features strongly in the gods that the people worshiped. The feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl, patron of priests and symbol of death and resurrection was important to

Mixtec The Mixtecs (), or Mixtecos, are indigenous Mesoamerican peoples of Mexico inhabiting the region known as La Mixteca of Oaxaca and Puebla as well as La Montaña Region and Costa Chica Regions of the state of Guerrero. The Mixtec Culture w ...

religion,Double headed serpent
''A History of the World in 100 Objects'', BBC. accessed 27 August 2010 but other gods also had serpentine characteristics. Both the colour green and serpents signified fertility, and ensuring land fertility was at the heart of most Aztec ceremonies.

Turquoise Turquoise is an opaque, blue-to-green mineral that is a hydrated phosphate of copper and aluminium, with the chemical formula . It is rare and valuable in finer grades and has been prized as a gemstone and ornamental stone for thousands of year ...

evoked new growth, water and the feathers of the Quetzal bird, which were worn by priests during ceremonies. The bright turquoise skin and open jaws were intended to both impress and terrify the beholder. However, the best known craftsmen for their turquoise mosaics were not the Aztecs but the Mixtecs. At the height of the Aztec Empire, many Mixtec towns came under Aztec rule had to pay tribute to the emperor, including gifts of gold and turquoise. This serpent would have made an valuable item of tribute- an example of the fearsome Aztecs.

History of the World

This sculpture featured in ''

A History of the World in 100 Objects ''A History of the World in 100 Objects'' was a joint project of BBC Radio 4 and the British Museum, consisting of a 100-part radio series written and presented by British Museum director Neil MacGregor. In 15-minute presentations broadcast on ...

'', a series of radio programs that started in 2010 as a collaboration between the

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Description

Provenance

Significance

History of the World

See also

References