Skip to Content
Today Open today 11–8

Mirror with Jaguar or Coyote Mosaic

A work made of iron pyrite, jade, shell, magnatite or ilmenite, and spondylus shell.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

Image actions

  • A work made of iron pyrite, jade, shell, magnatite or ilmenite, and spondylus shell.

Date:

500–600 CE

Artist:

Teotihuacan
Teotihuacan, Mexico

About this artwork

For over 2,000 years, polished stone mirrors were an important component of Mesoamerican attire, ritual, and symbolic imagery. This mirror is made of a single sheet of polished pyrite stone and includes a jade jaguar mosaic at its center. Mirrors often functioned as emblems of rank and office and were typically worn at the small of the back. The depiction of such mirrors in ancient murals, as worn by warriors, priests, and state officials, attests to their importance in the spectacular art of ritual performance in Teotihuacan.

Status

On View, Gallery 136

Department

Arts of the Americas

Culture

Teotihuacan

Title

Mirror with Jaguar or Coyote Mosaic

Place

Mexico (Object made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

500 CE–600 CE

Medium

Iron pyrite, jade, shell, magnatite or ilmenite, and spondylus shell

Dimensions

Diam.: 19.1 cm (7 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

S. DeWitt Clough and Ada Turnbull Hertle endowments

Reference Number

1994.313

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/132675/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

Share

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Learn more

Image actions

Share