An anthropomorphic jaguar appears to be progressing toward a building. Perhaps a temple, it is itself anthropomorphized, with an elaborate decorative roof comb in the shape of a traditional Teotihuacan headdress. This building stands on a talud and tablero platform, a typical feature of Teotihuacan’s architecture. The jaguar follows a path with two water channels on either side, indicated by a rich blue pigment and representations of eyes. Footprints, a common Mesoamerican artistic convention to denote movement, are indicated on the path, suggesting the jaguar’s progress towards the building.

This mural painting is part of a broader composition that once covered the walls of an apartment compound in Teotihuacan, the largest and most important city in ancient Mesoamerica during the Classic period. Originally located on the lower part of the wall, this fragment was part of a pair of murals flanking a doorway of a richly decorated room.

The jaguar appears to wear a type of net costume. “Net-jaguars” have been associated with aquatic and underworld deities as well as with military orders. This jaguar brandishes what appears to be a woven, red feathered shield and a green standard or a rattle, and wears a feathered headdress made of the green plumes of the quetzal bird. Quetzals are not found in Central Mexico, and the use of their feathers indicates long-distance exchange and trade with lowland groups. Green, a color associated with fertility, was used to mark preciousness and wealth as well as status in Mesoamerica. A curling scroll emerges from the mouth of the net-jaguar, filled with emblems of precious materials, likely representing carved greenstones. Such scrolls probably symbolize song or chant, perhaps representing flowery or precious speech.

Anawalt, Patricia 1996 Aztec Knotted and Netted Capes. Ancient Mesoamerica 7:187-206. p. 200, fig. 19.

Benson, Elizabeth P. 1963 Handbook of the Robert Woods Bliss Collection of Pre-Columbian Art. Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, D.C., p. 2, cat. 7.

Bliss, Robert Woods 1947 Indigenous Art of the Americas: Collection of Robert Woods Bliss. National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., p. 25-26, 55, 124-125, cat. 124.

Bliss, Robert Woods 1957 Pre-Columbian Art: The Robert Woods Bliss Collection. Text and Critical Analyses by S. K. Lothrop, Joy Mahler and William F. Foshag. Phaidon, New York. p. 238, cat. 33, pl. XXV-XXVI.

Bliss, Robert Woods 1959 Pre-Columbian Art: The Robert Woods Bliss Collection. 2nd ed. Text and Critical Analyses by S. K. Lothrop, Joy Mahler and William F. Foshag. Phaidon, London. p. 246, cat. 33, pl. XXV-XXVI.

Bühl, Gudrun (ED.) 2008 Dumbarton Oaks: The Collections. Published by Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, D.C., p. 198-9.

Christensen, Erwin Ottomar 1955 Primitive Art. Bonanza Books, New York. p. 204-205.

Covarrubias, Miguel 1957 Indian Art of Mexico and Central America. 1st ed. Knopf, New York. p. 142.

Evans, Susan Toby 2004 Ancient Mexico and Central America: Archaeology and Culture History. Thames & Hudson, New York. p. 260, fig. 9.24.

Evans, Susan Toby 2008 Ancient Mexico & Central America: Archaeology and Culture History. 2nd ed. Thames & Hudson, London. p. 260, fig. 9.24.

Fuente, Beatriz de la and Leticia Staines Cicero (EDS.) 1995 La Pintura Mural Prehispánica En México. 1. ed. I: Teotihuacán. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, México, D.F., p. 299, 305, pl. 61, fig. 19.35.

Grey, Michael 1978 Pre-Columbian Art. Thames and Hudson, London. pl. 4.

Kubler, George 1967 The Iconography of the Art of Teotihuacán. Studies in Pre-Columbian Art & Archaeology; No. 4. Dumbarton Oaks, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, D.C., p. 5-6, 9-10, fig. 15.

Kubler, George 1972 Jaguars in the Valley of Mexico. In The Cult of the Feline; a Conference in Pre-Columbian Iconography, October 31st and November 1st, 1970, Elizabeth P. Benson, ed., pp. 19-49. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington,. p. 25-26, fig. 7.

Lombardo de Ruíz, Sonia 1995 El Estilo Teotihuacano En La Pintura Mural. In La Pintura Mural Prehispánica En México, Beatriz de la Fuente and Leticia Staines Cicero, eds., pp. 3-64. 1. ed. vol. I: Teotihuacán. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas, México, D.F., p. 45, 46, pl. 13, fig. 136, 154.

Marquina, Ignacio 1964 Arquitectura Prehispánica. 2nd ed. Memorias Del Instituto Nacional De Antropología E Historia, 1. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia Secretaría de Educación Pública, México,. p. 104-105, fig. 32 bis.

Marquina, Ignacio 1951 Arquitectura Prehispánica. Memorias Del Instituto Nacional De Antropología E Historia, 1. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia Secretaría de Educación Pública, México. p. 105, fig. 32 bis.

Miller, Arthur G., Edwin R. Littmann and Dumbarton Oaks. 1973 The Mural Painting of Teotihuacán. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections, Trustees for Harvard University, Washington, D.C., p. 151, fig. 317.

Miller, Mary Ellen 1986 The Art of Mesoamerica: From Olmec to Aztec. World of Art. Thames and Hudson, New York. p. 76, fig. 52.

Miller, Arthur G., Edwin R. Littmann and Dumbarton Oaks. 1973 The Mural Painting of Teotihuacán. Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, D.C., p. 151, fig. 317.

Miller, Mary Ellen 1986 The Art of Mesoamerica: From Olmec to Aztec. World of Art. Thames and Hudson, New York, N.Y., p. 76, fig. 52.

Miller, Mary Ellen 2001 The Art of Mesoamerica: From Olmec to Aztec. 3rd ed. World of Art. Thames & Hudson, London. p. 78, cat. 59.

Nicholson, H. B. and Ethnic Arts Council of Los Angeles 1976 Origins of Religious Art & Iconography in Pre-Classic Mesoamerica. Ucla Latin American Studies Series; V. 31. UCLA Latin American Center Publications, Los Angeles. p. 163, fig. 2.

Pasztory, Esther 1993 Teotihuacan Unmasked: A View through Art. In Teotihuacan: Art from the City of the Gods, Kathleen Berrin and Esther Pasztory, eds. Thames and Hudson, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, New York, San Francisco. p. 61, fig. 7.

Pasztory, Esther 1997 Teotihuacan: An Experiment in Living. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman. p. 134, 182-185, fig. 11.1.

Pasztory, Esther 2005 Thinking with Things: Toward a New Vision of Art. University of Texas Press, Austin. p. 139.

Rodriguez, Luis Angel 1940 La Leyenda De Las Piramides. Zeta: Revista Continental, Arte, Ciencia, Historia, Literatura (8). p. 27.

Scott, John F. 1999 Latin American Art: Ancient to Modern. University Press of Florida, Gainesville. p. 71, fig. 3.18.

Séjourné, Laurette, Graciela Salicrup and Manuel G. Romero 1966 Arquitectura Y Pintura En Teotihuacán. Historia Y Arqueología. Siglo Veintiuno Editores, Mex?ico. pl. 50-51, fig. 13, cover.

Villagra Caleti, Agustin 1951 Las Pinturas De Atetelco En Teotihuacan. Cuadernos Americanos 55:153-162. p. 157-158, fig. 6.

Willey, Gordon Randolph 1966 An Introduction to American Archaeology. Prentice-Hall Anthropology Series. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., p. 112, fig. 3.45.

Winning, Hasso von 1968 Der Netzjaguar in Teotihuacan, Mexico. Baessler-Archiv 16:31-46. p. 33-35, abb. 2.

Winning, Hasso von and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México 1987 La Iconografía De Teotihuacán: Los Dioses Y Los Signos. Estudios Y Fuentes Del Arte En México; 47. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México. p. 43, fig. 3a.

"Indigenous Art of the Americas", National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, April 1947 to July 1962.

Purchased from Earl Stendahl, Los Angeles (dealer), by Robert Woods Bliss, 1941.

Robert Woods Bliss Collection of Pre-Columbian Art, Washington, DC, 1941-1962.

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Pre-Columbian Collection, Washington, DC.