Remarkable Aztec Obsidian Labret // Mexico Ca. 1300-1521 CE

Superbly carved obsidian in the form of a labret, a type of plug inserted through a piercing below the lower lip. The medium of obsidian is rare and quite difficult to work. The artisan must have possessed unparalleled skill to create this beautiful piece. Jewelry of this type was reserved for the wealthy in the Aztec culture. A piece of jewelry worn only by noble males in Central Mexico— a rare survival of what was once a thriving tradition in the Aztec Empire.

Labrets, called tentetl in Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, were manifestations of political power and qualified the wearer’s speech and breath as precious. The Aztec title for the royal office was huey tlahtoani, or "great speaker," and the adornment of the mouth was highly symbolic. Labrets were the visual markers of the eloquent, truthful speech expected of royalty and the nobility. Crafted from a sacred material, a labret would have underscored the ruler’s divinely sanctioned authority, and asserted his position as the individual who could speak for an empire.