Coronation Stone of Moctezuma Xocoyotzin

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c. 1503

Maker unknown (Mexica, Aztec)
Probably Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City), Mexico

The Mexicas, or Aztec Empire, ruled central Mexico from 1428 until 1521. This monument uses glyphs to record the history of the Mexica universe up to 1503. On the back, 1 Rabbit represents the beginning of time. On the front, the four previous cosmic eras are inscribed in the corners, while the current cosmic era 4 Movement appears in the center. 1 Crocodile (above) and 11 Reed (in the square frame) indicate the date July 15, 1503, when the ninth emperor Moctezuma Xocoyotzin was coronated. Just as these glyphs recurred throughout the Mexica capital, Tenochtitlan, they can also be found in Chicago: 4 Movement appears in a mural at the 18th Street “L” stop and on manhole covers in Pilsen—a neighborhood that has long been home to Chicago’s vibrant Mexican community.

Status: On View, Gallery 161
Department: Arts of the Americas

Culture: Mexica (Aztec)
Title: Coronation Stone of Moctezuma Xocoyotzin
Places: Tenochtitlan (Object Probably made in), Mexico City (Object Probably made in)
Date: c. 1503
Medium: Basalt
Dimensions: 67.4 × 57.8 × 22.9 cm (26 1/2 × 22 3/4 × 9 in.)
Credit Line: Major Acquisitions Fund
Reference Number: 1990.21
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/75644/manifest.json

H.B. Nicholson with Eloise Quiñones Keber, Art of Ancient Mexico: Treasures of Tenochtitlan, exh. cat. (National Gallery of Art, 1983), 41–42.
Richard Townsend, ed., The Ancient Americas: Art from Sacred Landscapes, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1992), 57–59, 375, cat. 3, fig. 13a-c (ill.), as Coronation Stone of Moctezuma II (“Stone of the Five Suns”).
James N. Wood, The Art Institute of Chicago: The Essential Guide (Art Institute of Chicago, 1993), 15 (ill.), as Coronation Stone of Motecuhzoma II.
John McKay, A History of World Societies, 5th ed. (Houghton Mifflin Company, 1999).
Jean Sousa, Looking at Art Together: A Parent Guide (Art Institute of Chicago, 2002).
James N. Wood, The Essential Guide, revised ed. (Art Institute of Chicago, 2003), 15 (ill.), as Coronation Stone of Motecuhzoma II “Stone of the Five Suns”.
Eduardo Matos Moctezuma and Felipe Solis Olguín, Aztecs, exh. cat. (London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2003), 455–456, cat. 226.
Gauvin Bailey, Art of Colonial Latin America (Phaidon Press, 2004).
Eduardo Matos Moctezuma and Felipe Solis Olguín, The Aztec Calendar and other Solar Monuments, trans. H. J. Drake (México, D.F.: CONACULTA-Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, Grupo Azabache, 2005), 125–126, 155.
James Cuno, The Essential Guide, 3rd ed. (Art Institute of Chicago, 2009), 24 (ill.), as Coronation Stone of Motecuhzoma II (Stone of the Five Suns).
Richard R. Townsend, The Aztecs, 3rd ed. (New York and London: Thames and Hudson, 2009), 29–30.
Colin McEwan and Leonardo Lopez Lujan, eds. Moctezuma: Aztec Ruler, exh. cat. (British Museum, 2009), 68–69.
Richard Townsend and Kathleen Bickford Berzock, “The Art Institute of Chicago New Galleries,” in Tribal Arts XVI-1/62 (Winter 2011): 65, fig. 15.
Douglas Druick, The Essential Guide, 4th ed. (Art Institute of Chicago, 2013), 24 (ill.), as Coronation Stone of Motecuhzoma II (Stone of the Five Suns).
Richard Townsend with Elizabeth Pope, Indian Art of the Americas at the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 2016), 234–235, cat. 186.

Washington, DC, National Gallery of Art in association with Dumbarton Oaks, Art of Ancient Mexico: Treasures of Tenochtitlan, Sept. 28, 1983–Jan. 8, 1984, cat.
Art Institute of Chicago, The Ancient Americas: Art from Sacred Landscapes, Oct. 10, 1992–Jan. 3, 1993, cat. 3, as Coronation Stone of Moctezuma II (“Stone of the Five Suns”); Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, Feb. 4–April 18, 1993; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, June 6–Aug. 15, 1993.
London, Royal Academy of Arts, Aztecs, Nov. 16, 2002–Apr. 11, 2003, cat. 226; Berlin, Germany, Martin–Gropius–Bau, Kulturveranstaltungen des Bundes, May 16–Aug. 10, 2003; Bonn, Kunts–und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Sept. 12, 2003–Jan. 11, 2004.
Chicago, The Field Museum, The Aztec World, Oct. 28, 2008–April 19, 2009, not in cat.
London, British Museum, Moctezuma: Aztec Ruler, Sept. 24, 2009–Jan. 24, 2010, cat. 14.

Stendahl Art Galleries, Los Angeles, by Feb. 10, 1971 [unpublished typewritten analytical study prepared by Hasso von Winning and sent to Stendahl Art Galleries on Feb. 10, 1971, inscribed “HvW Feb. 10, 1971” and “to Stendahl 10-II-71,” in the West Lake Society archive, RI; slide of object at Stendahl Art Galleries photographed by H.B. Nicholson identified as “5 Suns Stone,” marked “S” (referring to Stendahl Art Galleries), and timestamped with slide processing date FEB71H7, in the H.B. Nicholson Slide Archive, California State University, Los Angeles; copies in curatorial object file]; sold to Seth G. Atwood (1917–2010), Time Museum, Rockford, IL, Nov. 14, 1972 [letter from Patricia Atwood, Dec. 18, 1989; copy in curatorial object file]; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, Jan. 9, 1990.

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