The Aztecs were highly skilled stonemasons and sculptors, paying great attention to detail in their depcitions of human beings or gods and goddesses. The Aztecs were also fascinated by the natural world which was directly associated with their religious beliefs. Thus Aztec gods had human and animal aspects. For instance, the omnipotent god Tezcatlipoca (‘smoking mirror’) was associated with the jaguar. Indeed both the jaguar and the eagle symbolized power and courage and gave their names to an elite group of warriors. The skins of jaguars were highly prized commodities, as recorded in the tribute pages of the Codex Mendoza. These would have been made into ceremonial costumes for Jaguar Warriors. The snake is another common subject of sculpture and is often shown as Quetzalcoatl, the plumed serpent. The Aztecs were clearly fascinated by the snake’s ability to shed its skin which to them represented renewal. The attention to detail on sculptures of fish and lizards, on which individual scales are replicated, and the extraordinary detail captured in sculptures of grasshoppers and fleas, reveals the skill of the sculptors and their understanding of the anatomy of these minute creatures.

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