Aztec figure
- Gallery: Room 27
- Culture: Aztec
- Date: 1325-1521
- Object type: figure
- Materials: sandstone
- Museum number: Am1849,0629.2
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
Before you is a striking sandstone figure depicting Mictlantecuhtli, the Aztec god of death. He sits in a powerful posture, his bony features capturing the spirit of the Underworld. Carefully look at the figure's head—you can see the "Two Skull" glyph carved into his combed hair. On his right shoulder is the "Five Vulture" glyph, and on his back, right at the lower part, is "Four House."
This piece is a tribute to Mictlantecuhtli, a deity associated with Mictlan, the Aztec Underworld. The dead journeyed through nine levels of Mictlan, with only those who died of natural causes reaching the ninth. This sculpture shows how deeply the Aztecs thought about death and the afterlife.
Carved from sandstone brought from Mexico’s northern Gulf Coast, this figure connects us to an ancient world of art and belief.
See it in person
Aztec figure is on display in Room 27 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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