Chalchiuhtlicue in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, May 2018

Chalchiuhtlicue,ca. A.D. 1500


Object Details

Date: ca. A.D. 1500

Geography: Mexico, Mexico City

Culture: Aztec

Medium: Diorite

Dimensions: H. 31 1/2 × W. 14 3/4 × D. 10 13/16 in., Wt. 150 lb. (80 × 37.5 × 27.5 cm, 68039.554 g)

Classification: Stone-Sculpture

Credit Line: Museo Nacional de Antropología, Secretaría de Cultura-INAH, Mexico City (10-82215)


Chalchiuhtlicue was the goddess identified with lakes, rivers, and moving waters. Her name, which translates as "Jade Her Skirt," indicates the close identification of precious greenstones (chalchihuitl) with life-giving waters. As is common in her sculpted representations, she wears a quechquemitl, a women’s garment draped over the shoulders, edged with greenstone beads and tassels. Although commonly worn by Totonac, Mixtec, and Zapotec women, the quechquemitl was considered a foreign Huastec garment by the Aztecs, who restricted it to ritual use. Her skirt (cueitl), secured with a rattlesnake belt, bears a distinctive diamond motif, used most notably on the capes of Mexica rulers.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/722231