Knotted Rattlesnake

Description Compact and smoothly polished, this rattlesnake displays typical Aztec sculptural techniques. Both the musculature of this snake's body and its head have been sculpted in great detail. The eyes were probably once inlaid, and ferocious fangs descend from the snake's upper jaw. Snakes were powerful symbols throughout Mesoamerican history, linked with the sky, rain, and agriculture. Aztecs may have seen the snake's shedding of its skin as a metaphor for the cyclical nature of life, death, and rebirth.

Exhibitions

• The Art of Ancient and Modern Latin America. Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, New Orleans. 1968.
• Themes and Variations in Painting and Sculpture. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore. 1948.
• World of Wonder. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1971-1972.
• Art of the Ancient Americas. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 2002-2010.

Provenance French Consul, Mexico City (?) [date and mode of acqusition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1911 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters, 1911