Mesoamerican Macuahuitl

This is an art piece based on the Mesoamerican Macuahuitl (say Mah-kwah-weet).

It’s not a replica, it’s an interpretation.

This is a handmade item made with some old (over a hundred years old) Beech wood that I salvaged from a Library closure a few years ago, hand cut and shaped ceramic tile, black glass tile, real leather and real feathers. Several hours of shaping, sanding, finishing and finessing went into its creation. It has 2 different designs made from ceramic tile mosaic which are inlaid into each face. One side has a turquoise geometric style and the other a more jungle themed with a graphic glyph design. The irony here is that the wood used to be the shelving in a library on a British military base that held many books about war and history. Now that wood has become art in the shape of a historical weapon.

A Macuahuitl is an ancient weapon like a cross between a sword and a club used by the Mesoamerican people in central Mexico between 1000BC – AD1500. There are no surviving examples of these items and all that is known about them comes from stories of how terrifying a prospect it was to go up against the warriors carrying them. There were some technical illustrations by explorers many years ago when the remaining pieces were held in museums, then sadly, they were damaged and lost forever.

This not a prop or a replica. It is a handcrafted one of a kind art piece. It is 730mm in legth and 130mm in width and it weighs 1.2kg. the black blades are made from vitreous glass and attached using epoxy resin. The ceramic tile tesserae were cut and shaped by hand. I opted for a hard wax oil to finish the wood. The pommel is leather wrapped and decorative rope and painted feathers were added for effect.