Post-classic (c.900-1580)
also: Mesoamerican Postclassic · Postclassic period
Post-classic (c. 900-1580) names the art of Mesoamerica after the fall of the Classic cities, when power shifted to the Toltec and then to the Aztec, or Mexica, empire of central Mexico, while Maya and other traditions continued in the Yucatán and the highlands. What survives is dominated by the Mexica: monumental stone sculpture of gods and rulers, the great painted screenfold codices recording ritual, calendar and tribute, and superb featherwork, turquoise mosaic and goldwork made for rulers and temples. It is an art of civic religion - monumental, fierce and densely ornamented - in which writing and image are inseparable. The horizon closes with the Spanish conquest, as indigenous workshops redirected their forms into Christian colonial commissions, making this the last chapter of unbroken Mesoamerican art.
Defining characteristics
- Monumental stone sculpture of deities: blocky volumes carved with hieroglyphic relief
- Painted screenfold codices: flat outlined figures in registers, color-coded pictographic glyphs
- Brilliant surface color from featherwork, turquoise mosaic and gold-silver alloy
- Serpent, eagle and stepped-fret (xicalcoliuhqui) motifs across sculpture and ceramics
- Frontal or profile figure conventions carrying hieroglyphic name and calendar signs
- Dense, horror-vacui ornament that covers architectural sculpture edge to edge
Example works
- Sun Stone (Aztec calendar stone) — Anonymous Mexica (Aztec) artists (c. 1520)
- Codex Borbonicus — Anonymous Mexica (Aztec) tlacuilos (c. 1500)
Sources
- Mesoamerican Postclassic period - Wikipedia encyclopedia