Exhibition Guide
Unidentified Tecotihuacan artist. Mural Fragment with Priest. 500-550. Baltimore Museum of Art, Purchase as the gift of the Henfield Foundation, New York, and Purchase Fund, BMA 1962.42
Mural Fragment with Priest
Art Object Info
Here, a priest holds an incense bag and scatters seeds while chanting or singing. He wears many symbols of his power and prestige, from his quetzal feather headdress to the large jade beads hung around his neck. Both quetzal feathers and uncarved jade were symbolic of nature’s fertility and were prized for their vibrant colors. These luxury goods came to Teotihuacan, in central Mexico, from Guatemala and are evidence of the complex and wide-reaching trade networks that covered the Americas in the first millennia CE. This mural fragment comes from what was once the most densely populated city in the Americas, Teotihuacan. The city boasted between 100,000–200,000 inhabitants at its height (500–550 CE) and attracted people from various cultural groups across Mesoamerica.
Mural Fragment with Priest
Here, a priest holds an incense bag and scatters seeds while chanting or singing. He wears many symbols of his power and prestige, from his quetzal feather headdress to the large jade beads hung around his neck. Both quetzal feathers and uncarved jade were symbolic of nature’s fertility and were prized for their vibrant colors. These luxury goods came to Teotihuacan, in central Mexico, from Guatemala and are evidence of the complex and wide-reaching trade networks that covered the Americas in the first millennia CE. This mural fragment comes from what was once the most densely populated city in the Americas, Teotihuacan. The city boasted between 100,000–200,000 inhabitants at its height (500–550 CE) and attracted people from various cultural groups across Mesoamerica.