ID: 700000532 Page link: http://vocab.getty.edu/page/cona/700000532	Record Type: Movable Work
Images: 1

Deity Censer (Xantil) (censer; unknown Eastern Nahua; 1200/1400; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City, New York state, U...; 1978.412.10)

Note: This effigy censer depicts a seated deity with bent arms and hollow legs drawn up to either side of its cylindrical body. Supported by a long, thick neck, its oversized head features a pair of coarsely modeled ears bearing disc-shaped earspools. The deity’s open mouth exposes a row of teeth bounded by a pair of pointed, jaguar-like incisors at each corner. Atop its cap-like headdress, a crest of tubular representations of feathers extends vertically as a pair of modeled tassels dangles from rosettes along the back portion of the head. Created in the Tehuacan Valley of the southeast corner of modern-day Puebla, this censer belongs to a class of objects popular among the Eastern Nahua peoples of the Late Postclassic period (ca. 1200–1500). Known as xantiles (sing. xantil), these ceramic braziers functioned as receptacles for a type of incense known as copal (tree resin) that, when burned, produced a thick, musky smoke. Rising through the central chamber of these anthropomorphic vessels, the smoke then billowed forth from holes pierced in the hands, chest, mouth, and nostrils. In this way, the burnt offerings allowed ritual practitioners to communicate with the gods.

Titles:

Deity Censer (Xantil) (preferred,C,U,D,RP,English-P,U,U)

Catalog Level: item

Work Types:

censer [300198814] (preferred)

..... (Objects Facet, Furnishings and Equipment (hierarchy name), Containers (hierarchy name), containers (receptacles), <containers by function or context>, ceremonial containers)

Classifications:

ceramics (preferred)

Creation Date: 1200/1400

Creator Display:

unknown Eastern Nahua [preferred,VP]

sculptor unknown Nahua (Nahua cultural designation) [500203887]

Locations:

Current: Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City, New York state, United States) [500125157] Corporate Bodies (Corp. Body)

Repository Numbers: 1978.412.10

Credit Line: The Michael C. Rockefeller Memorial Collection, Gift of Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1969

Address Note: On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 358

Other: Creation: México [1001893] Mexico (nation), North and Central America (continent), World (facet) (Geographic)

Display Materials: ceramic

	ceramic (material) [300235507]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by composition>, inorganic material, clay, <clay by product>, <ceramic and ceramic by product>)

Dimensions: 57.5 x 38.4 x 22.9 cm (H. 22 5/8 x W. 15 1/8 x D. 9 in.)

Cultures:

Mesoamerican (preferred)

Style/Period/Group/Movement:

	Nahua (style or culture) [300017793] (preferred,N/A)
	.....(Styles and Periods Facet, Styles and Periods (hierarchy name), <styles| periods| and cultures by region>, Americas| The, Native American, Native Middle American, Native Central Mexican styles)

General Subject:

religion and mythology (preferred)

Specific Subjects:

	Macuilxochitl [901000160]
	.....((Aztec characters, Aztec iconography, Amerindian iconography, Legend, Religion, Mythology)) (ICON)

Provenance: [Alfred E. Stendahl, Hollywood, CA, until 1956]; Nelson A. Rockefeller, New York, 1956, on loan to The Museum of Primitive Art, New York, 1956–1969; The Museum of Primitive Art, New York, 1969.

List/Hierarchical Position:

..... Movable Works

.......... Movable Works by class: decorative and utilitarian works

Sources and Contributors:
Deity Censer (Xantil)	........ [VP]
	........ Metropolitan Museum of Art [online] (2001-) accessed 22 May 2012

Subject: ....... [VP]

Note:
English	..... [VP]
	..... Metropolitan Museum of Art [online] (2001-)