Magazines - Tribal Art Summer 2009

By Catherine Elliott Weinberg

Introduction
Room 27 at the British Museum is dedicated to the display of Mexican objects dating from around 2000 BC through to the time of European contact in the sixteenth century. The approximately 2,000-square-foot rectangular Mexican Gallery (fig. 20) takes its visual inspiration from sacred Mesoamerican architecture. This darkened, dramatically lit, and highly charged room is a place of pilgrimage for those seeking to encounter an array of relics from Aztec, Classic Veracruz, Huastec, Maya, and Olmec cultures, among others. Of the items on display, an interspersed group of objects once formed an important part of the diverse Christy Collection, which was also responsible for contributions to other areas of the museum. Originating from many parts of the world, the objects in the Christy Collection were brought together by Henry Christy (1810–1865), but what is today represented in the museum under his name is much more than simply one man’s accumulation. Over time, his original collection has been modified and augmented. Initially consisting of an estimated 10,000 specimens,1 Christy’s collection has made an important contribution to the museum’s Asia, Africa, Oceania, Americas, and Prehistory holdings.