Ancient Mexico. Pre-Columbian Art Galleries
Maraca with feminine form | Ancient Mexico. Pre-Columbian Art Galleries | Museo Amparo, Puebla
Maraca with feminine form | Ancient Mexico. Pre-Columbian Art Galleries | Museo Amparo, Puebla
Maraca with feminine form | Ancient Mexico. Pre-Columbian Art Galleries | Museo Amparo, Puebla
Maraca with feminine form | Ancient Mexico. Pre-Columbian Art Galleries | Museo Amparo, Puebla
Maraca with feminine form | Ancient Mexico. Pre-Columbian Art Galleries | Museo Amparo, Puebla
Maraca with feminine form | Ancient Mexico. Pre-Columbian Art Galleries | Museo Amparo, Puebla

Maraca with feminine form

Culture Nahua
Region Central highlands
Period Late Classic
Year 1200-1521 A.D.
Year 1200-1521 A.D.
Technique

Modeled clay with perforations

Measures 8   x 4.5  x 4  cm
Location Gallery 6. Art, Form, Expression
Record number 52 22 MA FA 57PJ 80
Researcher

Instrument-effigy whose traits correspond to the Nahua style observed in other shaken idiophones from the Central highlands. The effigy representa a seated woman, apparently naked and with her hands placed at the height of her abdomen; only fragments of her hairdo remain, but it is highly likely that it was originally of the same type as the on in the maraca from 1497. She is wearing a necklace of elongated pendants that possibly represent fangs.

These types of instruments were made using molds, while the strikers were modeled and ed to the instrument prior to assembling the figure. In the Post-Classic period, it was common to find maracas made of feminine effigies with naked torsos, firm breasts and, occasionally, holding a child. These traits correspond to a prototype that was highly generalized among the Nahua groups of the Central highlands. The feminine representation is related with ideas concerning youth, fertility and reproduction.

Recent investigations suggest that these instruments were used in domestic rituals to bring about good health, protect children and maternal health; in other words, they were apotropaic objects.

Instrument-effigy whose traits correspond to the Nahua style observed in other shaken idiophones from the Central highlands. The effigy representa a seated woman, apparently naked and with her hands placed at the height of her abdomen; only fragments of her hairdo remain, but it is highly likely that it was originally of the same type as the on in the maraca from 1497. She is wearing a necklace of elongated pendants that possibly represent fangs.

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Ancient Mexico. Pre-Columbian Art Galleries