With the collaboration of ELKH researchers it was confirmed through scientific and museological analyses that the mosaic mask being displayed as part of ZOOM, the new  permanent exhibition at the Hungarian Ethnographic Museum, is an original find from the Aztec period, probably the work of Mixtec craftsmen from central Mexico. The results of the research were published in the journal Forensic Science International.

The first similar objects were brought to Pope Clement VII from Mexico in 1533 by Dominican missionaries as proof that the natives of the territories conquered by the Spanish were intelligent people with advanced artisanal skills. The artifacts transported to Italy by the representatives of the church were first acquired by various private collectors, and eventually wound up as the coveted treasures of museums such as the British Museum in London, Vienna’s Weltmuseum and the Museo Pigorini in Rome.

New finds arrived in Europe from the end of the 19th century, with the last wave of them bringing from Mexico this mosaic mask decorated with genuine turquoise inlays, which became part of the collection of the Hungarian Museum of Ethnography as part of the art exchange campaign that took place between 1973 and 1980.

At the press event in Budapest presenting the unique find and the investigations carried out on it, Lajos Kemecsi, the director general of the Hungarian Museum of Ethnography, pointed out that, in addition to its irreplaceable treasures of Hungarian folk art, the museum also maintains a significant international collection, and the related scholarly research is also one of the museum’s tasks. Little information was previously available about the Aztec-period mosaic mask, and the circumstances of its origin had remained unknown until now. This made it important for specialists to carry out thorough analysis using modern scientific methods, as well as to conduct museological research in order to dispel the uncertainties regarding the origins of the find. Other objectives included identifying the place of origin and the materials used.

The tests proved that the mask was made in the late 15th or early 16th century from alder wood, a tree that is also indigenous to Mexico. As with other such objects, the mosaic tile covering was affixed to it with pine resin. This made it clear that it was an original find from the Aztec period.

The analysis of the blue and white inlays covering the mask was the task of researchers from ELKH Centre for Energy Research (EK-CER) and the ELKH Institute for Nuclear Research (ATOMKI). The tests were carried out partly directly on the mask and partly on particles from the mosaic that had been removed previously. In order to identify the material used for the blue and light-colored inlays, the researchers performed non-destructive manual and laboratory micro-XRF and Raman measurements on more than forty points across the object, and also took high-resolution Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images. These tests clearly proved that all of the analysed green-aqua particles covering the mask were made of turquoise, which, based on their high zinc and low iron content, show similarity with the turquoise finds of the Templo Mayor, the main temple excavated in the capital of the Aztec Empire.

Chemical tests confirmed that the light-colored tile covering surrounding the turquoise inlays is composed of three different materials. The pearlescent white-light gray tiles are made of alabaster, and the eggshell-colored ones are made of clay stone. The material used for the smooth light-yellow tiles could not be determined with absolute certainty. However, the results of the Raman spectroscopy test indicate the presence of anatase, which occurs in white clay/clay stone (kaolin). Based on the iron content of the red-colored areas, which is higher than that of the surrounding tiles by as much as a factor of ten, it is likely that the artisans used earth pigments rich in iron as a coloring agent. The significant potassium, calcium, and sulfur content of the black-painted eyebrows indicates a coloring agent containing ash or charcoal.

The material analyses took place in parallel with the research into the museological and cultural contexts of the mask. As a result of these, it emerged that the art dealers who conducted the artwork exchange with the museum back when the mask was acquired also sold two very similar groups of finds to Belgian, German and American museums during the same period. In addition to masks, which were similar to, although of much lower quality than, the one in Budapest, these groups also contained many other objects, including clay vessels, weavings, sandals, painted bark objects that can be attached to a reed frame used for ceremonial wear, jewelry, and rush braids and ropes whose uses included the wrapping of human remains. On this basis, it can be concluded that the mask may have belonged to a group of objects representing gods or ancestors that were used for healing or funerary purposes and which were usually shaped like dolls and then hidden in dry caves. Also of great help in determining the original purpose and use of the set of objects were the depictions from the Aztec codices showing funeral ceremonies, among other scenes.

According to the documents from the museums in question, the sets of finds that can be associated with the mask come from caves located along the border between the states of Puebla and Oaxaca in central Mexico. On this basis, the mask at the Ethnographic Museum can be regarded as the work of the area’s Mixtec craftsmen, who were known for their high-level culture of craftsmanship, and could have come into the hands of art dealers during excavations conducted there in the 1960s.