This video examines the so-called Coyote Warrior of Tula, a small Toltec sculpture now in the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. Made between about 900 and 1250 CE, this plumbate ceramic figure is covered in shimmering shell mosaic, with carved bone teeth and a human face emerging from the coyote's mouth. We consider the three theories about who it depicts (Huehuecóyotl, Ce Acatl Topiltzin, or Quetzalcoatl), what it tells us about Toltec and Postclassic warrior orders, and why its rare freshwater shellwork deserves more attention in art history.

Speaker: Dr. Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank