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Awesome Incredible Day of the Dead
Onyx Skull
This skull is bigger and better looking than any other carved stone
skulls that you are going to find in this price range. Go ahead and do a
search if you don't believe me. You are not going to find another
exactly like this one, either, because I having these made especially
for me by an Otomi Indian artisan in a village near Tula, Hidalgo,
Mexico, the site of the former capitol of the Toltec Indians. This a
made of onyx, and it is from Mexico, and it is a traditional sort of
item, connected to the Day of the Dead and the cults of the dead of the
MesoAmerican Indians. It has a hole in the top so that is can be used as a
candle holder. It comes in four colors - White, Dark Gray, Pink, and Brown. We ill choose a color for you unless you specify which one you want.
Day of Dead art,
specifically the use of calaveras as a way of burlesquing persons and
institutions which were normally protected by censorship laws is a
tradition that goes back very far, with both roots in the European and
Indian traditions of Mexico. The Indian roots are mostly with the dual
nature deities, whose “death side” was indicated by skeletal figures -
the most famous survivor of that tradition is “La Santisima Muerte”. She
is rooted in the cult of an Indian goddess whom the Aztecs called
Mictlancihuatl - the name means “Lady of Death”. The 
European
roots go back to the
danse macabre and to the work of Hans Holbien the Younger - of whom
the
great Mexican illustrator Guadalupe Posada might be said to have carried
on his traditions and brought them back to life. Posada was
“rediscovered” by Diego Rivera, who promoted Posada in order to attach
his own shining star to the calavera artist’s legend. His fascination
with Posada was culminated with the completion of the mural, “Dream on a
Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Park” has a rendition
of
the Catrina - Posada’s most famous calavera - in the middle of the
scene, and even has a portrait of Posada there. Posada’s interest in
this subject, however, was probably brought about through the influence
of the German Jewish exiled art critic Paul Westheim, who is the man who
is really behind all of this interest in the Day of the Dead and in
Posada. His book “La Calavera” is the most important book every written
on the subject, in my opinion, and it pretty much sums up what Diego was
originally exposed to when he was first enlighted on the the importance
of Day of the Dead art in Mexico. This particular work of Posada can,
more than any other, be said to carry on the tradition of the Danse
Macabre.
This is three inches high - it is BIG! And it is GORGEOUS!! It weighs about a pound.
************
From Fausto's Art Gallery in Ojinaga,
Chihuahua.
(Shipped from Presidio, Texas)
only $10.99 each
Shipping and handling is $5.50