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Lord 7 Flower Pectoral (Yya Sahuaco)
Not on view
The pectoral is one of five nearly identical pieces excavated from Monte Albán’s lavish Tomb 7. Representing the Mixtec god Yya Sahuaco (Lord Seven Flower)—who corresponds to the Nahua god Xochipilli (Flower Prince)—the figure is adorned with a nose bar, bird headdress, feathers, and rosettes. Mixtec goldsmiths likely adapted and perfected metallurgical techniques introduced from Central and South America. These ornaments exemplify the false-filigree technique: rather than joining individual metal pieces using solder, artists modeled and then cast the filigree wires, producing an appearance of gold lace.
Este pectoral es uno de cinco piezas casi idénticas excavadas de la Tumba 7 de Monte Albán. La figura, que representa al Dios mixteca Yya Sahuaco ("Señor 7 Flor") y que corresponde al Dios Nahua Xochipilli ("Príncipe Flor"), está adornada con una barra nasal, un tocado de pájaro, plumas y rosetas. Los orfebres mixtecos adaptaron y perfeccionaron las técnicas metalúrgicas introducidas de América Central y de América del Sur. Estos ornamentos muestran la técnica de falsa filigrana: en vez de aplicar por soldadura piezas individuales de metal, los artistas modelaron y luego moldearon los hilos de filigrana en cera, logrando así que parezcan de lazos finos de metal.