Mexico · Metalwork / Goldsmithing / Lost-Wax Casting
Tentetl (Nahuatl; labret / lip ornament)
Mexica goldsmiths created elite labrets (tentetl) worn through a piercing beneath the lower lip, including sculptural eagle and serpent forms associated with political authority, military achievement and the ruler's power of speech. A surviving serpent labret in The Metropolitan Museum of Art demonstrates highly sophisticated lost-wax casting: the gold-copper-silver alloy body was cast from a wax model, with false-filigree details and an articulated bifurcated tongue engineered as an integral movable element. Archaeological finds from the Templo Mayor also document cast gold ornaments and hammered sheet-gold components, confirming an important goldworking tradition in the Basin of Mexico. Most elite gold objects were melted after the Spanish conquest, making surviving labrets exceptionally rare.
Risk level: Extinct · Not applicable as a living ICH element; archaeological heritage protected under Mexican law
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