Mural Fragment Depicting a Maguey Bloodletting Ritual
The ancient Mexican city of Teotihuacan was once the largest city in the Americas. Its pyramid facades and palace interiors were frequently decorated with splendid frescoes. This fragment was part of a cycle painted on the interior walls of an aristocratic palace. It shows a rain priest with a speech-scroll adorned with seashells and plants, indicating a prayer for water and agricultural prosperity.
Details
- Palette
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- Dimensions
- 63.8 × 95 cm (25 × 37 1/2 in.)
- Origin
- Teotihuacán
- Department
- Arts of the Americas
- Holding institution
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Image provider
- art-institute-chicago
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Ada Turnbull Hertle Fund
Art Genome Taxonomy
12 tags
Subject Matter
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Mythology and Religion Metadata · 98%
The catalog describes a rain priest, prayer, blood offering, incense, water symbolism, and a calendrical religious ceremony.
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Human Figure Both · 99%
A prominent human figure is directly visible in profile, and the catalog identifies the figure as a priest.
Visual Qualities
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Dark Colors Visual · 95%
The composition is dominated by a deep earthen-red ground with dark red-brown linear details and limited pale accents.
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Highly Ornamented Visual · 97%
The headdress, costume, speech-scroll, borders, and surrounding forms contain extensive repeated decorative detail.
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Patterns Visual · 96%
Repeated geometric border motifs, radiating lines, circular ornaments, and patterned costume elements organize the surface.
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Contour Line Visual · 96%
The figure, headdress, speech-scroll, containers, and decorative motifs are primarily defined by dark continuous outlines.
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Flatness Visual · 93%
The image uses planar zones, profile representation, and graphic contouring with little modeled or illusionistic depth.
Medium and Techniques
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Painting Both · 99%
The image visibly shows a painted surface, and the catalog classifies the work as fresco painting with mineral pigment on lime plaster.
Time Periods
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500 - 1000 CE Art Metadata · 99%
The catalog dates the work to 500–600 CE, which falls within the 500–1000 CE Art category.
Geographic Regions
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Mexican Art Metadata · 96%
The catalog identifies the place of origin as Teotihuacán, Mexico.
Materials
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Plaster Metadata · 99%
The catalog specifies lime plaster as the support or medium.
Cultural and Religious Styles
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Pre-Columbian Art Metadata · 99%
The catalog explicitly lists Pre-Columbian among the work's styles and identifies its origin as Teotihuacán in Mexico.
Source & rights
Teotihuacan. Mural Fragment Depicting a Maguey Bloodletting Ritual. The Art Institute of Chicago.