Pottery Rattle
Unknown Artist
1200–1521
Medium
Clay
Dimensions
1 3/4 × 1 3/4 × 1 3/4 in., 1.376oz. (4.4 × 4.4 × 4.4 cm, 39g)
Classification
Idiophone-Shaken-rattle
Culture & Period
Aztec · Late Postclassic (Pre-Columbian)
Department
Musical Instruments
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889
Accession Number
89.4.3460
Art Historical Context
This petite **Pottery Rattle**, from clay by an unknown Aztec during the Late Postclassic period (1200–1521), measures a mere 1¾ × 1¾ × 1¾ inches and weighs just 39 grams Now part of the Metropolitan Museum of’s Crosby Brown Collection of Musical (acquired in 1889), it belongs to the idiophone-shaken-rattle classification, designed to create rhythmic sounds when vigorously shaken—likely from small objects like seeds or pellets inside its hollow form. In the vibrant world of Pre-Columbian Aztec culture, such rattles were more than playthings; they pulsed with spiritual and communal significanc...