330 COLUMBIAN HISTORICAL EXPOSITION AT MADRID. 



A fine copy of a- similar contemporary shield, preserved at the 

 National Museum of the City of Mexico, was exhibited in the Mexican 

 section. This shield is of especial historical interest, for, after having 

 in all probability, formed part of the presents sent by Cortes to Charles 

 V, it was preserved in Austria for nearly three centuries, and was only 

 sent back to Mexico at the instance of the ill-fated Emperor Maxi 

 milian, who presented it to the National Museum. 



Among the objects exhibited by the National Museum of Washing 

 ton was a large water-colored sketch of the shield discovered by the 

 writer in 181)0, at the Castle of Ambras, Tyrol. Since then it and 

 other ancient Mexican relics have been transferred to the Imperial 

 Museum at Vienna. In an adjoining room, in the same section, I dis 

 played a similar copy in oil colors, and subsequently presented it to the 

 newly founded National Museum at Madrid. 



The four above-mentioned shields, illustrated descriptions of which 

 have been published , belong to the category of gala shields, such as 

 were used by native chieftains in ceremonial dances, etc. 



They are composed of narrow strips of cane skillfully interwoven with 

 cotton threads and surrounded by a circular wooden frame. This foun 

 dation was covered with leather, as in the specimen in the National 

 Museum of Mexico, or with fine agave paper, as in the other specimens, 

 and on the smooth surface thus obtained the feather mosaic was glued. 



The Ambras shield is by far the best preserved and most valuable 

 example of the kind. It was originally adorned with a magnificent 

 fringe composed of Quetzal feathers and displays a boldly drawn mon 

 ster, probably a coyote, whose eyes, claws, teeth, and outlines are 

 marked by thin pieces or strips of gold, applied in a skillful and pecu 

 liar manner. 



The probabilities are that this, as well as the other three shields, was 

 among the presents sent by Cortes to the Emperor Charles Y. It cer 

 tainly belonged to a nephew of the Emperor Archduke Ferdinand of 

 Tyrol, and is minutely described in the inventory of his famous collec 

 tion of armor, dated 1506. In this same document the magnificent 

 piece of feather work (PL I) now preserved at Vienna, is designated as 

 a hat or headdress. In later inventories, when it had lost a part of its 

 original decoration, it was described as an apron. Subsequently it was 

 described respectively by different writers as a cloak. and a standard. 2 



1 See Ferdinand von Hochstetter, Ueber alt-mexikanischo Reliquien, Wieu, 1884. 

 Zelia Nuttall, Verhandlungen der Berliner anthropologischeii Gesellschaft, 1891, p. 

 485. Also articles &quot;On ancient Mexican shields&quot; and u Coyote or bear?&quot;, Interna 

 tionales Archiv fur Ethnographic Band V, 1892, and VII, 1893. Franz Heger, Alt- 

 mexikanische Reliquien aus deni Schlosso Ambras in Tirol, Wien, 1892. 



3 See T. Maler, p. 1., Nunez-Ortega, p. 281, Anales del Museo Nacional, tomo III. 

 Zelia. Nuttall, Standard or Headdress. Foabody Museum Papers, vol. 1, No. 1. 

 Compte reiulu de la huiticrne session du Congrcs International des Am&amp;lt;5ricanistes, 

 Paris, 1890, p. 453. Ed. Seler, Zeitschrift fur Ethnologic, Baud XXI, p. 63, Ver- 

 haudl., 1891, p. 114; ditto, 1893, p. 44. Max Uhle, Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, Heft 

 II, p. 1 14. 



