The serpent labret with articulated tongue is a gold

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...

lip plug The lip plate, also known as a lip plug, lip disc, or mouth plate is a form of body modification. Increasingly large discs (usually circular, and made from clay or wood) are inserted into a pierced hole in either the upper or lower lip, or both, ...

from the mid-second millennium AD. Made of a gold, copper and silver alloy, it was cast via the lost-wax process; the tongue, cast individually, can be retracted or extended, and swings from side to side with its wearer's movement. The serpent is thought to represent

Xiuhcoatl In Aztec religion, Xiuhcoatl was a mythological serpent, regarded as the spirit form of Xiuhtecuhtli, the Aztec fire deity sometimes represented as an atlatl or a weapon wielded by Huitzilopochtli. Xiuhcoatl is a Classical Nahuatl word that tran ...

. The

labret A labret is a form of body piercing. Taken literally, it is any type of adornment that is attached to the lip (labrum). However, the term usually refers to a piercing that is below the bottom lip, above the chin. It is sometimes referred to as a ...

entered the collection of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

with a 2016 purchase, and is considered "perhaps the finest Aztec gold ornament to survive the crucibles of the sixteenth century".

Description

The

, which was worn in a piercing below the lower lip, is high, wide, deep, and weighs . It was cast via the lost-wax process, and is made of an alloy comprising 59.3 to 64.3% gold, 26.8 to 33.1% copper, and 7.5 to 8.8% silver. The tongue was cast as a separate piece, allowing it to be retracted or extended, and for it to swing from side to side with the movement of its wearer. The serpent is attached to a cylindrical plug, which has a wide and plain flange to hold the labret in place within the wearer's mouth. The piece is shaped like a serpent preparing to strike, with a curled eyebrow and snout, serrated teeth, and two fangs. Scales are represented below the lower jaw.

Provenance

The labret is in the permanent collection of the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, which purchased the piece in 2016. Previously it had been owned by Heath McClung Steele from 1937 to 1949, and then by his children until 1978. After being sold at

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

in New York on 22 November 1978 it passed into the collection of Jay C. Leff until 1981, and subsequently the collections of Judith Small Nash and Peter G. Wray, the latter of whom held the labret until 1985. It was next owned by Herbert L. Lucas, through 2004, and then became part of a private New York collection until its sale to the Met.

Exhibitions

The labret was displayed as part of the exhibition ''Golden Kingdoms: Luxury Arts in the Ancient Americas'', at the

J. Paul Getty Museum The J. Paul Getty Museum, commonly referred to as the Getty, is an art museum in Los Angeles, California housed on two campuses: the Getty Center and Getty Villa. The Getty Center is located in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles and fea ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

from 16 September 2017 through 28 January 2018, and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of the exhibition ''Golden Kingdoms: Luxury and Legacy in the Ancient Americas'' from 26 February 2018 through 28 May.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{cite book , editor1-last = Pillsbury , editor1-first = Joanne , editor2-last = Potts , editor2-first = Timothy , editor2-link = Timothy Potts , editor3-last = Richter , editor3-first = Kim N. , title = Golden Kingdoms: Luxury Arts in the Ancient Americas , date = 2017 , publisher = Getty Publications , location = Los Angeles , isbn = 978-1-60606-548-8 , name-list-style = amp Aztec artifacts Jewellery of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Snakes in art