The Lord of the Flowers

Recently the Anthropology Museum has been selecting one piece from their vast collection and highlighting it in special exhibition hall of the museum.  Currently the showcased item is a sculpture from the Mexica (Aztec) Hall, a statue of the god Xochipilli.

Xochipilli was the Aztec god of flowers, as well as the god of music, dancing, painting and pleasure, among other things.  He is usually portrayed as a youthful pleasure-seeker.  It has been suggested by some that he is here portrayed in the throes of ecstasy induced by the consumption of hallucinogenic plants used in sacred ceremonies.

The god's body is covered with images of flowers.

His mother was the Earth Goddess, and, like a flower, he sprouted from the ground.  Upon his birth his body was covered with earth.  The mask that he wears represents the dirt which covered him.

His father was the Sun, and the elaborate cloak which he wears is decorated with symbols which refer to the sun.

The statue was discovered in the 19th century near the volcano Popocatépetl.  It is sculpted from andesite, a volcanic stone.  It was originally painted, and there are traces of red, ochre and white mineral pigments.