■  ƒ POST-CLASSICAL AZTEC ALTAR, APPROX. 1450-1521... Lot 51

■  ƒ POST-CLASSICAL AZTEC ALTAR, APPROX. 1450-1521 AP. AD Height: 40 cm. (15¾ in.) $33000-54000 PROVENANCE Marianne and Robert Huber, Dixon, Illinois James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, Chicago, acquired from them on March 16, 1965. Among the many remaining works of Aztec sculpture, receptacles hold a special place because of their shape and their probable function. Three kinds of these may be considered: the tepetlacalli, the cuauhxicalli and the “altars”. The tepetlacalli(?) are actual cofers, closed with a lid and holding human remains or sacrifcial oferings. The cuauhxicalli, often zoomorphic (felines or eagles), have a sort of basin intended- according to sources - to hold the sacrifced victim's heart. The third category, to which scholarly literature gives the name of “altar”, shows great formal unity: often impressive blocks whose upper part is ftted with a fat and shallow cavity. The function of the altars was almost certainly, closely linked to the ceremonial rites, whilst the receptacles and spaces were for the display and even the consumption of the sacrifcial remains, be it blood, food, liquids, perfumes or objects. The Altars are decorated with a variety of lower reliefs, representations of gods, human fgures in sacrifcial or ceremonial acts, animals, the Aztec calendar and cosmographic symbols. The basalt sculpture shown here is decorated on its four sides with reliefs representing the days of the Aztec ritual calendar, founded on a cycle of 20 names and 13 fgures. On opposite panels one can distinguish 'One Jaguar' and 'Ten Jaguar' while it is believed 'Seven-Crocodile' is placed between the two. The fourth side represents 'Four Movement', an important glyph symbolizing the 'Fifth World', the world of the Aztecs themselves, a successor to the preceding worlds, and fated, like its predecessors, to be destroyed in a fnal apocalypse. This motif is associated with the upp