Mexico Day of the Dead Ceramic Sculpture, "Aztec God of Death"

By artisans from the Angel Cerón Artisan Association, this frightening figure depicts Mictlantecuhtli, the Aztec god of death. Represented as half man, half skeleton, he makes a menacing gesture with long, claw-like nails, and his liver hangs from the thoracic cage. The artisans work in clay to replicate an image discovered in the House of the Eagles within the Templo Mayor of Tenochtitlan, an archaeological site in Mexico City.