Angel Cerón sculpts this highly detailed ceramic image of Centéotl based on his depiction in the Codex Borgia. Believed to have been written prior to the Spanish conquest, this codex receives its name after Cardinal Stefano Borgia who owned it. To the Aztecs, Centéotl was a unique deity in that he didn't dominate a particular element. However, he was regarded as the god of corn, which is the staple food of the Americas where it grows bountiful. Corn is also more resistant to plagues and changes in the weather; therefore the Aztecs believed corn to be a gift from the gods and thus sacred. In this ceramic sculpture by Cerón, Centéotl wears an impressive headdress with corn raising a reliquary offering to the heavens.
