Icons of Empire: Royal Presentation and the Conception of Rule in Aztec México

Initial Conclusions and Direction of Future Research/Presentation

When I began this phase of my research, it was not my initial intention to focus on Xipe related material to the extent that the material consulted led me to do. The realization that many small ceramic figurines may indeed be images of the ruler opens up a whole new area of study in terms of the popular nature of Aztec rulership and the possible relevance of domestic cult figurines representing (if only in a generalizing way) the ruler.

The recurrence of Xipe related elements in the representations of various rulers and their royal paraphernalia, I believe, justifies a reappraisal of this deity and his cult in terms of its imperial significance–a significance originally stressed by Broda (1970) and Nicholson (1972). Too, the consciously manipulated variances in the depictions of rulers and the added emphasis placed on their images (an emphasis found in almost every document consulted in the BNP) that continue to occur even four and five generations after the conquest, I believe, bolsters my arguments (see Barnes n.d.b) that Nahua artists (and their mestizo descendants) maintained a Pre-Columbian tradition of manipulating the signs and symbols which communicated the ideas of authority–despite the changing nature of that authority within the Spanish colonial world.

I believe that when the analysis of the data collected is complete and ready for presentation, it will motivate scholars to reconsider many of their notions regarding indigenous royalty in Mesoamerica in general, and the ruling elite of the Aztecs in particular. The information garnered from this particular stage of my research has proved itself invaluable in the study of Aztec nobility, and without the generous support of FAMSI, I would not have been able to devote the amount of time in study that the sources consulted required.

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