Ancient Mexican Art at Dumbarton Oaks - 9780884023456

"Five hundred years ago, a sustained and permanent contact was begun between the Old World and the New. By 1519 Spanish soldiers were marveling at the wealth and extent of the Aztec Empire, and by the summer of 1521 they began to control it on behalf of Spain. A few Europeans...would admire the precious objects from New Spain and value them enough to save them, but most examples of art mobilier were either reduced to their component materials for reuse or were destroyed as works of the devil. It was not until the early twentieth century that finely crafted objects from ancient Mexico and Central America were appreciated as art by those in Europe and the Americas...

In 1912 Robert Bliss, living in Paris as a U.S. diplomat, began to collect Pre-Columbian pieces.... [His collection] of Pre-Columbian art from the land of the ancient Mexica---the old Aztec Empire---comprises a varied sampling of the best that the ancient cultures of western Mesoamerica had to offer. These objects present us with a treasury of artistic masterpieces, and help us to understand and appreciate the ancient peoples whose genius and skill produced such works."

"The Dumbarton Oaks collection of ancient art from the Central Highlands, Southwestern Highlands, and Gulf Lowlands of Mexico... includes singular objects of historic importance as well as fine examples of well-known types. At the time Robert Woods Bliss was establishing his collection, little was known about what the individuals who commissioned and created these objects thought about the meanings of specific materials. Yet Bliss's choices echo some ancient hierarchies of valued materials, especially those that were difficult to obtain and work, such as greenstone, shell, and gold. Luminous color and radiance captured the eye as easily in 1950 as in antiquity, although many associated meanings undoubtedly of importance in the ancient world still elude us today. Bliss eschewed other materials that were of profound importance in Pre-Hispanic Mexico---such as featherwork---perhaps in part due to the scarcity of such objects on the market in the twentieth century, as he did collect feather objects from the Andes. He collected ancient Mexican ceramics and wooden objects sparingly, focusing on a few objects of exceptional importance. In this sense the collection remains a personal, rather than comprehensive, selection of rare and finely crafted works."