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Head of Xipe-Tótec, god of fertility

Image Coming Soon

Head of Xipe-Tótec, god of fertility

ca. 600-800

Mexican , Veracruz

Humans were sacrificed to the god of the springtime and vegetation, Xipe-Tótec, by flaying the victim so that the priests could wear the skin, an action that symbolized the renewal of the earth with vegetation (the renewal of the earth’s skin). This head is likely not a mask but part of an incensario.
Ceramic
8 1/2 x 6 5/8 x 6 in. (21.59 x 16.83 x 15.24 cm)
Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection
58.24
location
Now on view at the Seattle Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Art of the Ancient Americas, July 10, 1999 - May 11, 2003.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Cosmic Beings in Mesoamerican and Andean Art, Nov. 10, 2018 - ongoing.

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

Learn more about Equity at SAM