Montezuma's headdress


Moctezuma's headdress is a featherwork crown which tradition holds belonged to Moctezuma II, the Aztec emperor at the time of the Spanish Conquest. However, its provenance is uncertain, and even its identity as a headdress has been questioned. It is made of quetzal and other feathers with sewn-on gold detailing. It is now in the Museum of Ethnology, Vienna, and is a source of dispute between Austria and Mexico, as no similar pieces remain in Mexico. Restoration efforts reignited this dispute in 2012.

Description

The feathers of the piece have deteriorated over the centuries. It is high and across and has the form of concentric layers of different colored feathers arranged in a semicircle. The smallest is made from blue feathers of the Cotinga amabilis with small plates of gold in the shapes of half moons. Behind this is a layer of Roseate spoonbill feathers, then small quetzal feathers, then a layer of white-tipped red-brown feathers of the squirrel cuckoo, Piaya cayana, with three bands of small gold plates, and finally two of 400 closely spaced quetzal tail feathers, some long. The quetzal feathers in the center of the headdress are raised relative to the sides. Leather straps attach the crown to the head of the wearer.

History

Although attributed to Moctezuma and the Spanish conquest, the provenance of the piece is unattested, and it does not match Aztec illustrations of the headdress of their nobility. It became an object of interest to European researchers such as Ferdinand von Hochstetter and Eduard Seler at the end of the 19th century, and its identification as a quetzalapanecayotl is attributed to American anthropologist Zelia Nuttall. It was restored in 1878, while still thought to be a mantle rather than a headdress. It is attested since 1575 in the collections of Archduke Ferdinand in Ambras near Innsbruck, Austria. At the beginning of the 19th century it was deposited in the Museum of Ethnology in Vienna along with other liturgical artifacts of Quetzalcoatl and Ehecatl.