Episode 3312
Serpent labret with articulated tongue
Sat, 2026-May-30 00:43 UTC
Length - 3:07
Direct Link
Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.
The featured article for Saturday, 30 May 2026, is Serpent labret with articulated tongue.
The serpent labret with articulated tongue is a gold-alloy body ornament from the Aztec culture of the mid-second millennium AD. Designed to be inserted into a piercing below the lower lip, it depicts a fanged serpent poised to strike, with a bifurcated tongue hanging from its mouth. The tongue, which is moveable and retractable, would have swung from side to side with its wearer's movements. Art historians have described it as an ingenious example of Aztec metalworking, and amongst the finest Aztec gold objects known to survive.
Labrets, or lip plugs, were associated with the nobility in Aztec culture, worn by rulers and meted out as honours; even then, gold labrets probably remained the province of the elite. Worn prominently on the face, the labret probably symbolised the wearer's status and eloquence, and possibly divine right to rule. Gold was a hallmark of divinity—Tōnatiuh icuitl, translated as "the excrement of the sun", was believed to be left behind as the sun god traversed the underworld at night—and eloquence a hallmark of nobility: The title for the leader of the Aztec empire was huei tlahtoani, literally "Great Speaker". The serpent may represent Xiuhcoatl, the fire serpent wielded as a weapon by the sun god Huītzilōpōchtli.
The labret is dated to 1300–1521, the period during which the Aztecs flourished. It is 6.7 cm (2+5⁄8 in) high, 4.4 cm (1+3⁄4 in) wide, 6.7 cm (2+5⁄8 in) deep, and weighs 51 grams (1.81 oz) Consisting of a gold, copper, and silver alloy, it was made by lost-wax casting. Although such goldwork is traditionally ascribed to Mixtec makers either to the south or stationed in Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs, particularly by the time of the Aztec empire, may have also had their own sophisticated goldworking workshops.
The labret was publicly known by 1937, when it was placed on long-term loan at the American Museum of Natural History. It spent much of its succeeding history in private ownership but on display, then was purchased in 2016 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 00:43 UTC on Saturday, 30 May 2026.
For the full current version of the article, see Serpent labret with articulated tongue on Wikipedia.
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Until next time, I'm generative Joanna.
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