This is a wonderful hand beaded skull by Mayola Villa Lopez from San Andres Cohamiata. This skull measures 19" wide from horn to the the other horn, 22.5" from the tip of the horn to the tip of the nose, 19" from the top of the head to the tip of the nose and is 8" wide across the eyes.
Please note that the horns for this piece naturally slip off of the skull. They are wrapped seperately and are placed in the bottom of the package.
Mayola Villa Lopez is the granddaughter of Jacinto Lopez Ramirez. He was an older Huichol shaman, considered to be the grandfather of the commercial bead art.
Bead art done by the Wixaritari (Huichol) can be dated back to the 1700s, where beads were introduced by a group of missionaries in an effort to convert them into Christianity. Their efforts proved futile and they were shortly expelled from the mountains but they decided to keep the beads. Thus they were slowly introduced into their religious offerings.
The technique has remained the same throughout the years. The Wixaritari layers a coat of wax onto the wooden piece or gourd, then after stacking layers onto a needle they begin to add them one by one starting from the inside of the design. After which the contours are filled, this labor is usually done by their kids in order for them to learn this art form.
