43 
\ 
STATUE 
OP 
AN AZTECK PRIESTESS^ 
PLATES 1. & 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. 
I ' 
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- 
I . ' - I 
* See the French edition in folio, Plates I and II 
