Formal Analysis
The Aztec bell depicted on the left is approximately one inch by one inch by one inch, cast in gold, and it depicts a man’s head with very prominent, and arguably disproportionate, facial features, with little to no forehead. The upper half of the symmetrical object is dominated by large eyes and the top of the head, and the nose and mouth are also large, though the nose projects out from the face farther. This piece does have some areas where there seems to be some damage; small portions on the top of the head seem to have been gouged out and the sides of the head have areas that have vertically split apart. In general, the four lines streaming down from the enlarged eyes, the enlarged nose, and the inverted curves of the eyebrows draw attention to the openness of the mouth, and therefore, the function of the bell as a noise-making object.
The top of the head is taken up mostly by the hair on the person’s head, compacting the facial features below it. On the top portion of the head, the undulating surface creates a subtle horizontal wave-like pattern, which stretches down to the sides of the head. In the center of the top of the head, there is a raised vertical strip, which may be hair (resembling a mohawk) or an adornment, that bisects the horizontal pattern. The thin oblong shape in the center of the head has small cylindrical pieces on top the entire length of it. If the element on the center of the top of the head were to be read as hair, it would seem the most apt to understand it as a series of small buns or ponytails. The absence of a forehead and the expansive top of the head emphasize the compact quality of the eyes, nose, and mouth, which then work together to highlight the mouth as the most prominent element of the face.
The inverted curves of the eyebrows and the curves of the eyes mimic the shape of the mouth, while the lines streaming down from the object’s eyes draw the viewer’s eyes down the face to the mouth. Two eyes are depicted as individual semicircular outlines, where the rounded edge points toward the bottom half of the face, and these rounded shapes possess the same curved lines as the mouth as well. Within these semicircular outlines, two circular outlines are representative of the eye within its socket. Above the flat edge of the outlines, the bridge of the nose meets the two eyebrows, which lack any specific details beyond the general shape; they are merely two curves, reminiscent of the mouth, except for the fact that they are inverted. There are two lines on each side of the face, and they begin at the center of the curved portion of each semicircular eye. Separated by about a quarter of an inch, the four lines do not look smooth by any means. Rather, they look particularly textured, as if the were made up of a string of small dots. The lines run slightly diagonally past the opening of the mouth and work with the curvatures of the eyes in directing the viewer’s eye toward the mouth.
More towards the middle portion of the face, the nose projects farther out than any of the other facial features, as it draws the viewer to the mouth, evoking a sense of sound, though ears appear to be absent from the bell. The nose is relatively slender, yet the nostrils themselves seemed flared, as they are represented as two relatively large open holes, possibly suggesting that this person may have been wearing nose plugs. Also, the tip of the nose, though mostly taken up by the nostrils, comes to a rather rounded point, and its arrow-like shape causes the viewer to focus on the mouth. While the bell does not seem to have ears, it is possible that they were lost as a result of damage, since the bell seems to have broken apart on the two sides of the head, leaving a rigid edge.
The bell’s mouth stretches across its entire face, and the openness of the mouth highlights its auditory function as a bell. The mouth, in its most basic form, seems to take the shape of a skinny kidney bean, as it is relatively oval with a slight curvature on the top portion of the mouth. While there are no defined lips, the mouth does curve in slightly where the lips would be. Inside the mouth, there are only upper teeth, which are individually divided into each tooth by lines on the surface of the gold, and the bottom half of the mouth is open. In combination with the shape of the mouth, the openness of the mouth draws attention to sound, as the openness of the mouth emphasizes its function to make noise. Through the hole in the mouth, one would have been able to see the internal element of the bell, which created the sound in response to movement.
While the largeness of the top of the head creates the effect of compacting the facial features lower on the head, the curvatures of the eyebrows and eyes mimic the curvatures of the mouth. The nose and lines on the face perform a similar functions, as they draw the viewer down the face on the bell, stopping at the mouth. Every element on the face emphasizes the mouth in some way, highlighting it as the most important feature on the face. The prominence of the mouth evokes a sense of sound which accompanies the bell as its main purpose.