43 



STATUE 



OF 



AN AZTECK PRIESTESS. 



PLATES I. & II. 



I have placed at the head of my Picturesque 

 Atlas a valuable relic of Mexican sculpture; 

 a statue in basalt, preserved at Mexico in the ca- 

 binet of a distinguished lover of the arts, M. 

 Dupe, captain in the service of his catholic ma- 

 jesty. This well-informed officer, who in early 

 life improved his taste for the fine arts by a resi- 

 dence in Italy, has made several excursions 

 through New Spain, to investigate the Mexican 

 monuments. He has sketched with great accu- 

 racy the reliefs of the pyramid of Papantla, on 

 which he intended to publish a very curious 

 work. 



The statue, of which both sides are here re- 

 presented in their natural size *, is chiefly re- 



* See the French edition in folio, Plates I and II 



