Motolinia, a 16th-century Spanish observer, left this account of prismatic blade production: Modern attempts to redesign production techniques are heavily based on Spanish records and accounts of witnessed obsidian knapping. Prismatic blade production, a technique employing a pressure flaking-like technique that removed blades from a polyhedral core, was ubiquitous throughout Mesoamerica. The use of pecking, grinding, and carving techniques may also be employed to produce figurines, jewelry, eccentrics, or other types of objects. It is obtained by either quarrying source sites or in nodule form from riverbeds or fractured outcrops.įollowing the removal of cortex (when applicable), bifacial, unifacial, and expedient flake stone tools could be produced through lithic reduction. This contributed to its prolific use throughout Mesoamerica. 124).An obsidian prismatic blade fragment from the Maya site of Chunchucmilĭue to its glassy internal structure, obsidian is relatively easy to work, as it breaks in very predictable and controlled ways via conchoidal fracturing. The Minute books of the Royal Asiatic Society confirm that the mask and knife were definitely in Hertz’s hands by 28 January 1843 when “a sacrificial dagger, and a turquoise mask” were exhibited by him at a general meeting (RAS, 1854: fol. This may be the infamous Samuel Luke Pratt, of 47 New Bond Street, proprietor of an antique furniture business, today particularly remembered for his sales of fake antique armour (Watts, 1992). He writes that the knife came from “Mr Pratts in New Bond Street who brought this also from Venice” – which is a little confusing since in the previous paragraph of his letter he stated that both mask and knife “belonged to a celebrated collection at Florence”. Hertz said that he did not acquire the knife and mask direct from Italy but picked them up in London. Hertz states that the mask and the sacrificial knife belonged to “a celebrated collection at Florence”, of which he had forgotten the name, the sale of which, he thought, “took place some twenty odd years ago. It has been suggested that Mayer may have over-reached himself financially, at all events the three mosaics appeared in the Hertz/Mayer 1859 sale (Sotheby & Wilkinson, 1859: 125-6), were bought by Henry Christy The turquoises were still in Hertz’s possession in July 1856 when he wrote to Mayer offering his collection for sale, including “extremely rare” “specimens of Mexican, Chinese and Indian workmanship.” The deal was concluded by 15 January 1857 when removal arrangements were discussed (Liverpool Record Office). It may be that some of the objects were bought in or were acquired by nominees buying on behalf of Joseph Mayer (1803-86) and a consortium of Liverpool businessmen (Gibson, 1988: 11). In an annotated sale catalogue in the British Library the group of three mosaics is shown as having been acquired by what appears to be a Mr Roussey or Roussell for 14 guineas (the handwriting is difficult to read). The three turquoise items (mask, knife and skull) also appear in the catalogue of Hertz’s first Sotheby’s sale (Sotheby & Wilkinson, 1854) which took place in May 1854. Hertz published a catalogue of his collection (Hertz, 1851) – possibly the first appearance of the mosaics in print since the 17th century – and in this (Hertz, 1851: iii) reference is made to the collection having been acquired “within the last twenty years”. Carmichael, Turquoise Mosaics from Mexico (London, British Museum, 1970) p. An account of the provenance of these objects is given in a letter from Hertz, who had settled in London in the 1830s, dated ‘5 February 1858’ but (Dept of Asia, WWII archive) more probably written in 1859 at a time when Christy was contemplating their purchase at a forthcoming sale. 1794) and subsequently bequeathed to the Museum by Henry Christy (1810-65) q.v. 399, Mask Am St.400, Human skull Am St.401) acquired by the dealer and collector Bram Hertz (b. This item is part of group of three turquoises (Sacrificial Knife Am St. Acquisition notes For details on Christy's purchase of Am,St.399-401, see King et al.
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