Devotional sculptures and their attendant ritual interactions allow for pointed critical engagement with the very nature of images, both formally and in the intersection of art and sacra. Within the visual systems employed by the city-states of Pre-Columbian central Mexico, sacred imagery was merely one of multiple mechanisms designed to pull the periphery to the center and to actively construct specific cultural narratives. To that end, this dissertation will explore the manner by which ixiptla, a type of central Mexican cult effigy, functioned to shape conceptions of space, place, and cultural identity in the Postclassic Period (c.900-1521 CE). By investigating their position within the visual milieu, I posit that, through their material agency, ixiptla were crucial in the formation of the aforementioned social systems in Pre-Columbian central Mexico. This dissertation further argues that sacred images are, as a class of representation, indices of collective memory through the mythic narratives inscribed upon the objects themselves and their usage. They in turn form the visual rhetoric that is illustrative, and formative, of the construction of space, place, and identity. This project will specifically address the manner in which these images defined the idea of place, primarily through their position, movement within, and integration with both the physical and cultural landscape. Furthermore, Pre-Columbian devotional objects served to reinforce existing cultural systems while simultaneously shaping the overarching aesthetic narrative. In the manner of a community presenting itself to itself, they both display the overarching cultural matrix as well as participate in its formation. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Art History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2017. / March 3, 2017. / Aztec, ixiptla, Mexica, Pre-Columbian, sacred, sculpture / Includes bibliographical references. / Michael Carrasco, Professor Directing Dissertation; Joseph Hellweg, University Representative; Paul Niell, Committee Member; Laura Lee, Committee Member; Molly Harbour Bassett, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_507722 |
| Contributors | Peterson, Kristi M. (authoraut), Carrasco, Michael (professor directing dissertation), Hellweg, Joseph (university representative), Niell, Paul B., 1976- (committee member), Lee, Laura (committee member), Bassett, Molly H., 1980- (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Fine Arts (degree granting college), Department of Art History (degree granting departmentdgg) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text, doctoral thesis |
| Format | 1 online resource (293 pages), computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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