The ancient Mexican city of Teotihuacan was once the largest city in all of the Americas. The pomp and color of this great city were expressed most distinctively through its monumental architecture. Facades of pyramids and interiors of palaces, temples, and homes were frequently decorated with splendid frescoes. The fragment shown here was part of a cycle painted on the interior walls of an aristocratic palace. It shows a rain priest walking or processing in profile and wearing an elaborate headdress and costume. His speech-scroll, adorned with seashells and plants, indicates that he is praying for water and agricultural prosperity, which were highly valued in his society.<\/p>\n
Meaning \u201cplace of the gods,\u201d Teotihuacan was the largest religious, military, and trading city in the Americas between A.D. 200 and 650, and it was inhabited by over one hundred thousand people at its peak. Designed with colossal pyramids and ritual plazas, the metropolis was built on a cosmologically oriented grid plan that embraced residential and manufacturing districts. This richly symbolic fragment from a Teotihuacan wall fresco depicts a ceremony that took place once every fifty-two years, a \u201ccentury\u201d in the ancient Mexican calendar system. A priest stands before a tied bundle of reeds representing the completion of a cycle of time. The bundle is impaled by the spiny points of maguey cactus leaves, with which the priestly protagonist of the scene has pricked himself to provide a blood offering. Water symbols in the form of shells and flowers are depicted within the speech-scroll curling from the priest\u2019s mouth. Additional flowers and water are sprinkled from one of the priest\u2019s hands, while in the other he holds an incense bag. Corresponding to the chants of a religious litany, this complex image was repeated with others on the walls of a chamber as a prayer of thanksgiving and for the renewal of agricultural fertility.<\/p>\n","short_description":"The ancient Mexican city of Teotihuacan was once the largest city in the Americas. Its pyramid facades and palace interiors were frequently decorated with splendid frescoes. This fragment was part of a cycle painted on the interior walls of an aristocratic palace. It shows a rain priest with a speech-scroll adorned with seashells and plants, indicating a prayer for water and agricultural prosperity.","dimensions":"63.8 \u00d7 95 cm (25 \u00d7 37 1\/2 in.)","dimensions_detail":[{"depth":null,"width":95,"height":63,"diameter":null,"clarification":null}],"medium_display":"Lime plaster with mineral pigment","inscriptions":null,"credit_line":"Ada Turnbull Hertle Endowment Fund","catalogue_display":null,"publication_history":"Allen Wardwell, Primitive Art in the Collections of the Art Institute of Chicago<\/em> (Art Institute of Chicago, 1965), fig. 37 (ill.), as Rain Priest Fresco<\/em>.\n\nAllen Wardwell, \"An Early Fresco,\" Calendar of the Art Institute of Chicago<\/em> 60, no. 3 (May 1966): 12\u201313 (ill.), as Fresco<\/em>, https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/4112737<\/a>. \n\nMary W. Helms, Middle America: A Culture History of Heartland and Frontiers<\/em> (Prentice Hall, 1975), 58, fig. 5.4 (ill.).\n\nJohn Maxon, The Art Institute of Chicago<\/em> (Thames and Hudson, 1970), 240 (ill.), as Painted Wall Decoration<\/em>. \n\nJohn Maxon, The Art Institute of Chicago<\/em>, revised ed. (Thames and Hudson, 1977, reprinted 1983, 1987), 240 (ill.), as Painted Wall Decoration<\/em>. \n\nClara Millon, \u201cMaguey Bloodletting Ritual\u201d in Feathered Serpents and Flowering Trees: Reconstructing the Murals of Teotihuacan<\/em>, ed. Kathleen Berrin (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1988), 195\u2013205.\n\nRene Millon, \u201cWhere Do They All Come From? The Provenance of the Wagner Murals from Teotihuacan,\u201d in Feathered Serpents and Flowering Trees: Reconstructing the Murals of Teotihuacan<\/em>, ed. Kathleen Berrin (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1988), 78\u2013113.\n\nRichard Townsend, ed., The Ancient Americas: Art from Sacred Landscapes<\/em>, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 1992), 134, 142, 381, cat. 249, fig. 1 (ill.), as Mural Fragment Depicting Rain Priest<\/em>.\n\nJames N. Wood, The Art Institute of Chicago: The Essential Guide<\/em> (Art Institute of Chicago, 1993), 11 (ill.), as Mural Fragment Depicting Rain Priest<\/em>.\n\nJames N. Wood, Treasures from The Art Institute of Chicago<\/em> (Art Institute of Chicago, 2000), 29 (ill.), as Mural Fragment Depicting Rain Priest<\/em>.\n\nDorothy Chaplik, Latin American Arts and Cultures<\/em> (Davis Publications, 2000).\n\nJames N. Wood, The Essential Guide<\/em>, revised ed. (Art Institute of Chicago, 2003), 11 (ill.), as Mural Fragment Depicting a Priest<\/em>.\n\nJames Cuno, The Essential Guide<\/em>, 3rd ed. (Art Institute of Chicago, 2009), 22 (ill.), as Mural Fragment Representing a Ritual of World Renewal<\/em>.\n\nRichard Townsend and Elizabeth Pope, Ballplayers, Gods, and Rainmaker Kings: Masterpieces from Ancient Mexico<\/em>, exh. cat. (Art Institute of Chicago, 2013), 16\u201317, as Mural Fragment Representing a Ritual of Seasonal Renewal<\/em>.\n\nRichard Townsend with Elizabeth Pope, Indian Art of the Americas at the Art Institute of Chicago<\/em> (Art Institute of Chicago, 2016), 2\u20133, 170\u201371, 234-35, cat. 144 (ill.), as Mural Fragment Representing a Ritual of World Renewal<\/em>.\n\nMatthew H. Robb, \u201cTracing the History of the Techinantitla Murals,\" Ixiptla<\/em> 4 (2018): 86.\n\nJames Rondeau, Paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago: Highlights of the Collection<\/em> (Art Institute of Chicago, 2025), 15 (ill.).","exhibition_history":"Art Institute of Chicago, The Ancient Americas: Art from Sacred Landscapes<\/em><\/a>, Oct. 10, 1992\u2013Jan. 3, 1993, cat. 249, as Mural Fragment Depicting Rain Priest<\/em>; Houston, Museum of Fine Arts, Feb. 4\u2013April 18, 1993; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, June 6\u2013Aug. 15, 1993.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Chicago\u2019s Dream, A World\u2019s Treasure: the Art Institute, 1893-1993<\/em><\/a>, Nov. 1, 1993\u2013Jan. 9, 1994, cat.\n\nArt Institute of Chicago, Ballplayers, Gods, and Rainmaker Kings: Masterpieces from Ancient Mexico<\/em><\/a>, Sept. 26, 2010\u2013Jan. 2, 2011, cat.","provenance_text":"Galerie Signoret-James, Mexico City, by Oct. 26, 1962 [this and the following according to incoming receipt RX4078, Oct. 26, 1962; copy in curatorial object file]; sold through Everett D. Rassiga to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1962.","edition":null,"publishing_verification_level":"Web Everything","internal_department_id":21,"fiscal_year":1963,"fiscal_year_deaccession":null,"is_public_domain":true,"is_zoomable":true,"max_zoom_window_size":-1,"copyright_notice":null,"has_multimedia_resources":false,"has_educational_resources":false,"has_advanced_imaging":false,"colorfulness":39.9031,"color":{"h":7,"l":40,"s":40,"percentage":0.15077624804789694,"population":755},"latitude":null,"longitude":null,"latlon":null,"is_on_view":false,"on_loan_display":null,"gallery_title":null,"gallery_id":null,"nomisma_id":null,"artwork_type_title":"Painting","artwork_type_id":1,"department_title":"Arts of the Americas","department_id":"PC-3","artist_id":44159,"artist_title":"Teotihuacan","alt_artist_ids":[],"artist_ids":[44159],"artist_titles":["Teotihuacan"],"category_ids":["PC-3","PC-829","PC-831"],"category_titles":["Arts of the Americas","Latin American","Essentials"],"term_titles":["inorganic pigment","burnishing (polishing)","teotihuac\u00e1n","painting","ritual","fresco painting","pigment","colorant","polishing","finishing (process)","fresco painting","painting techniques","mesoamerican","Pre-Columbian","americas","priests","Hieroglyphs","red (color)","Mexico","mythology","religion","murals","landscapes","agriculture","praying","plaster","architectural fragment","Arts of the Americas","decorative arts"],"style_id":"TM-6642","style_title":"teotihuac\u00e1n","alt_style_ids":["TM-6522","TM-6516","TM-6515","TM-13488"],"style_ids":["TM-6642","TM-6522","TM-6516","TM-6515","TM-13488"],"style_titles":["teotihuac\u00e1n","mesoamerican","Pre-Columbian","americas","Arts of the Americas"],"classification_id":"TM-9","classification_title":"painting","alt_classification_ids":["TM-1203","TM-184","TM-1678"],"classification_ids":["TM-9","TM-1203","TM-184","TM-1678"],"classification_titles":["painting","fresco painting","architectural fragment","decorative arts"],"subject_id":"TM-12859","alt_subject_ids":["TM-8785","TM-12185","TM-11851","TM-12299","TM-8766","TM-11421","TM-12300","TM-8657","TM-12156","TM-12734"],"subject_ids":["TM-12859","TM-8785","TM-12185","TM-11851","TM-12299","TM-8766","TM-11421","TM-12300","TM-8657","TM-12156","TM-12734"],"subject_titles":["ritual","priests","Hieroglyphs","red (color)","Mexico","mythology","religion","murals","landscapes","agriculture","praying"],"material_id":"TM-3426","alt_material_ids":["TM-2509","TM-3239","TM-2439"],"material_ids":["TM-3426","TM-2509","TM-3239","TM-2439"],"material_titles":["inorganic pigment","pigment","colorant","plaster"],"technique_id":"TM-3918","alt_technique_ids":["TM-3913","TM-4282","TM-4259","TM-3971"],"technique_ids":["TM-3918","TM-3913","TM-4282","TM-4259","TM-3971"],"technique_titles":["burnishing (polishing)","polishing","finishing (process)","fresco painting","painting techniques"],"theme_titles":["Latin American","Essentials"],"image_id":"09d2b000-8e44-c735-5099-126d6453aaaa","alt_image_ids":["08b944f6-4558-d0fd-730f-d29905f4d143"],"document_ids":[],"sound_ids":[],"video_ids":[],"text_ids":[],"section_ids":[],"section_titles":[],"site_ids":[],"suggest_autocomplete_boosted":"Mural Fragment Depicting a Maguey Bloodletting Ritual","suggest_autocomplete_all":[{"input":["1962.702"],"contexts":{"groupings":["accession"]}},{"input":["Mural Fragment Depicting a Maguey Bloodletting Ritual"],"weight":6293,"contexts":{"groupings":["title"]}}],"source_updated_at":"2026-08-28T12:19:56-05:00","updated_at":"2026-08-28T15:22:25-05:00","timestamp":"2026-09-06T05:51:18-05:00"},"info":{"license_text":"The `description` field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. 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