Mexican Gods and Priests – 1734 Engraving of Aztec Deities and Religious Ritual

Name: Mexican Gods and Priests – 1734 Engraving of Aztec Deities and Religious Ritual
Brand: American Maps and Prints
SKU: BG-13806-51
Price: 270 USD
Availability: InStock

$270

€240 · dollar price at today's exchange rate

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Shipping to the United States: $51 standard, $73 express, insured and tracked.

Date: 1734
Kind: Native Peoples
Size: 42 × 26 cm (16.5 × 10.2 in)
Condition: Good. Condition is good. The engraving shows strong impressions and clear details. There is light foxing and toning around the margins, and minor edge wear consistent with age. No tears or restorations are visible.
Period: Colonial America
Places: Mexico
Reference: BG-13806-51

What the condition grades mean

Excellent: Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good: Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good: Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair: Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.

Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.

Guaranteed original. This is an original of the period stated, not a later reproduction or print-on-demand copy. If it is ever shown to be otherwise, we refund you in full.

Shipping to the United States. Sent from our gallery in Langweer, the Netherlands, flat between boards or rolled in a tube, and fully insured. Delivery and import charges.

About this piece

Mexican gods and priests, a copperplate engraving of 1734 from Les Cérémonies et Coutumes Religieuses de tous les Peuples du Monde, engraved after designs by Bernard Picart (Tome VI). The sheet is numbered 87 at the top and shows four separate scenes in a two-by-two grid.

The upper left shows an idol lettered "Vitzliputsli" (Huitzilopochtli) seated on a globe on a pedestal hung with weapons, before drawn curtains. At the upper right is "Tlaloch ou Tescalipuca", an enthroned figure with a shield, weapons and chains around the throne. At the lower left, "Tescalipuca représenté d'une autre façon" shows a seated figure with a round shield, the wall behind him decorated with skulls and crossbones. The fourth scene, "Prêtres Mexicains", shows two robed priests, one in a tall headdress holding a knife, on a checkered terrace.

The Cérémonies et Coutumes was a European picture-book of the world's religions, and Picart's Mexican scenes rest on written accounts of the conquest period rather than on what he or any of his contemporaries had seen.

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