The Mixtec art is that set of intellectual and artistic achievements produced by the people who lived Mexica, as it is popularly known regions of Oaxaca, Guerrero and Puebla in Mexico.
Among its manifestations are the pictorial books or codices, as well as its works with stones and different metals, being considered by many to be the best artisans of the pre-Columbian era.
Archaeological Zone of Mitla, Oaxaca (Mexico) Source: Norberto_Photography_Negrete
Archaeological records indicate that the Mixtec culture developed from 1500 BC. Until the Spanish conquest at the beginning of the XVI d. This Amerindian people formed hundreds of autonomous states in southern Mexico, which were united by a common culture and languages.
The term Mixtec is actually a Nahua-Aztec word, but they referred to themselves as tay ñudzahui, "people from the place of rain" or "people from the place of Dzahui," the god of rain. They were enemies of the Aztecs, with whom they fought many wars, and formed alliances with the Toltec-Chichimeca in the north and the Zapotecs in the east.
Architecture
In the archaeological studies of the Mesoamerican civilization there is a current that maintains that the cities of Mitla and Monte Albán were founded and built by the Zapotecs, but later, the Mixtecs seized them, merging both cultures.
In the case of Monte Albán, it was already occupied in the phase in which it had lost its political pre-eminence; while, it is considered that thanks to the Mixtec influence in Mitla it is that it became the architectural jewel of today.
Located south of Oaxaca, Mitla is one of the best-known ruins in Mexico. It is thought to be a sacred burial place. The famous Palaces of Mitla are distributed in five groups separated by about 100 or 200 meters.
They are characterized by their wide quadrilaterals, interior colonnades and elaborate facades. The construction method seems to be common to the five groups, made up of a core of clay and stone covered with well-cut plaster or trachyte.
The main Mixtec seal is observed in the mosaics that decorate the door frames. They are geometric patterns masterfully made with small stones. It is estimated that each composition is made up of more than 100,000 carved stones, which were carefully placed as if it were a giant puzzle.
The best preserved structure was the Group of Columns. This is made up of two quadrangles, limited on three of its sides by large buildings that do not close at the corners. The northern quadrangle is flanked to the east and west by two symmetrical palaces.
Painting
In the ruins of Mitla, a series of paintings have been detected that are usually related to the style and theme of the Mixtec codices. Five fragments of these murals are preserved, of which four are in the Church Group and another in the Palace of the Arroyo Group.
On the east wall of the Church Group scenes of Lord 1 Flower and Lady 1 Flower are observed, a primordial couple in their codices and progenitors of Apoala. Bird headdresses can be identified and their figures are depicted as emerging from the ground, very similar to the images in the Bodley and Vindobonensis codices.
The style of Mixtec paintings is usually considered as geometric polychrome. In turn, some scholars identify it by the black outline of the predominantly straight forms.
The colors red, light green and ocher are usually flat, in addition to using the white of the stucco as a chromatic value. These traces have been detected in what was the entrance to Tomb 2 in the archaeological zone of the Mixteca Baja, mainly in footprints and slopes of the steps.
Codices
The Mixtec codices are pictorial manuscripts collected where the births, marriages and deaths of the rulers were established. They also included the wildebeest or subject peoples, as well as the nobles who ruled each of them.
The themes most represented in Mixtec iconography are deities and their insignia, zoomorphic signs (snake, jaguar, deer, rabbit, spider, etc.), solar and lunar discs, as well as motifs that represent elements of nature such as water and the fire.
Codex Nuttall in the British Museum, London. Source: Einsamer Schütze
These records were painted by the sons of nobles educated for it and were kept in the capital of each Yuhuitayu or Mixtec kingdom. The pictograms that survived the Spanish conquest, made at different times, were Bodley, Nuttall, Vindobonensis, Selden and Colombino-Becker.
Codex
The Codex Nuttall is a 47-page book that survived the deterioration of the years and was found in a Dominican monastery in Florence, Italy, in 1859. The plates painted in deerskin on a white stucco and plaster base are folded in screen shape and painted on both sides.
Two narratives can be appreciated, so it is usually thought that they were made in different times and places.
On the obverse the genealogy, marriage, alliances and exploits of its ruling leader, Lord 8 Deer, are recorded; while the reverse shows the history of important centers of the Mixtec region, specifically the manors of Tilantongo and Teozacoalco unified by Mr. 9 Casa.
Codex
Through the Codex Vindobonensis or Yuta Tnoho, Mixtec cosmology and the mythological origins of the Tay ñudzahui are known. It is considered the most extensive codex of Mixtec culture because it consists of 52 plates, with pictograms on both sides.
On one of its sides, it tells the story of 8 Venado, who dominated almost all of La Mixteca from Tututepec and was establishing alliances with the peoples of central Mexico.
But the side by which this codex is recognized describes how one of the men of corn gave birth to the Lord of the Mixteca after fertilizing a tree. The Lord of the Mixteca challenged and defeated the sun, who tried to prevent the people from establishing themselves in the territory where they finally settled.
Ceramics
The pieces that have stood the test of time show a fine finish with first-class shading and polishing, as if they were varnished.
The thickness of the mud of the Mixtec ceramics was extremely thin, with surfaces of great iconographic richness, since their themes, more than decorative, had ritual practice as a background or were associated with different types of ceremonies.
Codex-type vessels could range from plates, converging bowls, pots, and vessels to tripod jugs and censers. Not only the signs had a meaning, the background also sought to convey information.
The orange pieces were related to light, the sun and the festivity, while those with a black background were associated with death, darkness and mystery.
Goldsmith
Around the so-called post-classical era, some works with copper and other metals can be detected, with which devices and tools such as tomahawks were made.
However, the most outstanding works in Mixtec goldsmithing were made with gold, which had become a symbol of the sun. They usually appear combined with stones such as turquoise and jade or with fine textures and feathers.
One of the best known pieces is the Shield of Yanhuitlán, a circular gold insignia with filigree threads that simulate feathers and small greek-shaped turquoise mosaics.
4 arrows cross it horizontally and 11 tubular bells hang from the lower part, all those elements in gold. All the goldsmithing techniques known to the Mixtecs such as lost wax, false filigree and hammering seem to be combined in this pectoral adornment.
References
- Lind, Michael. (2008). Archeology of the Mixteca. Contempt. Journal of Social Sciences. 13-32. 10.29340 / 27.548.
- National Institute of Anthropology and History Mexico. Pectoral of Yanhuitlán. Recovered from inah.gob.mx
- Hermann Lejarazu, MA (2010, October 25). Codex Nuttall: Side 1: The Life Of 8 Deer. Mexican Archeology. Recovered from arqueomex.com.
- Mixtec Culture: Origin, Meaning, Location and More. (2018, November 13). Recovered from hablemosdeculturas.com
- Arellano, F. (2002) The culture and art of pre-Hispanic Mexico. Caracas: Andrés Bello Catholic University.
- Sheetz, K. and Encyclopædia Britannica (nd). Mitla. Recovered from britannica.com
- Terraciano K. (2001). The Mixtecs of colonial Oaxaca. Mexico: Fund for Economic Culture.
- Pohl, John MD, “The painted lintels of Mitla”, Mexican Archeology no. 55, pp. 64-67.