Mountain Range of Guerrero, Mexico
Aztec (Mixtec)

Wood, traces of pigment in eyes
Signs of usage – ca. 16th-19th c.
Length:  38 in; Height: 12 in; Depth: 12 in
Idiophones – Struck Directly – Slit Drum

A carved wooden teponaztli /teponaxtle carved in the form of a Zapotec warrior on each end wearing a feather headdress. There are two anthropomorphic warrior head beaters/mallets.  When played using the beaters/mallets, the head serves as the handle for each hand, and the opposite ends are covered with animal hide/hair.   The wood is a light mahogany color, called chicozapote.  Both sides of the instrument have carved hands.  This slit drum, has two slits on the topside, cut into the shape of an “H”. When these two strips or tongues of different lengths and thickness are struck by the beaters/mallets, they produce two unique tones.  The teponaztli is an instrument that was considered a living entity by the Aztecs and related cultures.  It was used in dances, poetry, celebrations or in warfare as a means of communication.  Those who played the teponaztli were called a teponāzoāni. 

According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art: 

“Teponaztli were believed to be the manifestation of a court singer kidnapped by the god Tezcatlipoca and sent back to Earth in object form. As teponaztli were played, the powerful sound made manifest supernatural forces. Sixteenth-century Spanish accounts and contemporaneous codices (indigenous illustrated manuscripts) describe the contexts in which teponaztli were played, included tozohualiztli (priestly midnight household ceremonies).”

This larger “warrior” head teponaztli would be rested upon a supporting frame when played and for presentation. The smaller ones (also found in this collection) could either be rested on a frame or carried by straps over the shoulders.

This Aztec/Mixtec teponaztli was collected in the Mountain Range of Guerrero, Mexico.  Please note that the term, Aztec, a Western portmanteau meaning “people of Aztlan,” is used to describe all the Nahua-speaking peoples in the Valley of Mexico, while the culture that dominated the Aztec Empire was the tribe known as Mexica.

References:  https://indigenousmexico.org/guerrero/indigenous-guerrero-a-remnant-of-the-aztec-empire/;  https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/312583