145 - - Probable depiction of the ancient fire god Huehuetéotl

- Probable depiction of the ancient fire god Huehuetéotl Terracotta with traces of polychrome paint; broken and reattached; minor restoration not exceeding 3% of the work’s total mass. Veracruz, Mexico, 450–900 CE 40 x 20 cm Thermoluminescence analysis by the Kotalla Laboratory, May 2, 1991. Provenance: Gaïa Auction, Paris, June 13, 2007, lot no. 257. Standing with his face turned toward the sky, this elderly man appears entirely absorbed in prayer. With sunken cheeks and his mouth slightly parted as if he were about to speak or pray, he exudes an intense, almost lifelike presence. The large circular pendant adorning his chest indicates that he is a figure of importance. Huehuetéotl, “the old god” in Nahuatl, is one of the oldest deities in Mesoamerica. He appears as early as the Preclassic period, then at Teotihuacán and along the Gulf Coast, all the way to the Aztecs, who associated him with the young Xiuhtecuhtli, the “Turquoise Lord.” As the master of fire, he protected the hearth and was associated with volcanoes. But he was also believed to reside at the center of the universe, where he maintained the balance between heaven, earth, and the underworld, and regulated the passage of time. In Nahuatl, the same word, xihuitl, refers to both turquoise and the year. He was invoked to ensure that the fire would not go out: the fire of the home, the fire of the temples, and, beyond that, the fire that keeps the world alive. Among the Aztecs, every fifty-two years, at the end of a major calendar cycle, all fires were extinguished, and then a new flame was rekindled and revived in the brazier of the ancient god, so that it might spread to every hearth. It is this face, marked by the years, that invites us to recognize Huehuetéotl here. And there is something profoundly true in this image: entrusting the fire to the oldest of the gods means that the flame depends not on the vigor of youth, but on the patience of the one who tends it. The old man, who has seen all the cycles come and go, becomes the guardian of continuity. With his gaze turned toward the sky, our figure seems to be asking that the light, once again, not be extinguished.