Coatlicue de Cozcatlán

Female sculpture dressed as Coatlicue, mother goddess of the Sun, the Moon and the stars. Her face is a skull with inlays, but only some fragments are conserved: turquoise mosaic on the circles that adorn the cheekbones, fragments of red seashell on the nose and white seashell teeth. Her head has multiple holes to insert hair and the sign 8 malinalli carved on the rear. She wears a skirt formed by rattlesnakes from which she receives the name: “The one in the skirt of snakes”, tied by another ophidian as a belt. Her arms, in attacking position, are covered with some gloves that represent feline claws and her feet are covered with something in the shape of animal legs. The saggy breasts indicate that it is a woman that has given birth to many children. It was most likely that a green stone was placed in the hole at her chest; this custom symbolized giving life to an image.This sculpture was made in the south of the current state of Puebla, in the area of Cozcatlán. This region was part of the Triple Alliance Empire, where the sculptural Mexica tradition and the representation of its main deities was imposed, just as in some other places.Arqlga. Bertina Olmedo Vera