Cleveland Museum of Art
Head Fragment
- Date
- c. 900–300 BCE
- Medium
- jadeite
- Culture
- Mesoamerica, Mexico, Olmec
- Department
- Art of the Americas
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Object ID
- 136813
From the Cleveland Museum of Art record
This sensual head fragment may come from a seated or standing figure like those shown nearby, though much larger. The carving is exceptionally fine, from the slight under-eye puffiness to the delineation of the fleshy lips and the teeth. The profile face of supernatural being is incised just in front of each ear, perhaps indicating that the subject had special power. In ancient Mesoamerica, jade was more valuable than gold.
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Provenance & credit
As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.
- Credit line
- Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Provenance
- ?-1961: (John Wise, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) | 1961-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
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