Cactus

A naturalistic replica of an organ pipe cactus, a variety of the common cactus from the Basin of Mexico. We can see very clearly the body of the cactus in the shape of column cut vertically and the roots entangled carved in the bottom part of the sculpture. The base of the piece has a complex relief with the image of the profile of a head, from whose top part comes out a prickly pear. This figure has been identified with Tenoch, “Cactus of stone”, the mythical founder of Tenochtitlan.The cactuses were in use to delimit borders, since planting one next to the other formed an impenetrable wall. This suggests that probably this type of sculptures could have been used to limit the Tenochca territory. The sculpture was donated to the National Museum of Mexico by the archeologist and ethnohistorian Alfredo Chavero in 1874.Arqlga. Bertina Olmedo Vera