Collection Online as of August 9, 2022

Stela Fragment

600–950

Part of a set. See all set records

Mexico, Veracruz?, 600-950 AD

Limestone

Each: 31.8 x 30.8 x 12.2 cm (12 1/2 x 12 1/8 x 4 13/16 in.)

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener 1959.334

Location

233 Mesoamerican and Intermediate Region

Fun Fact

The pointed teeth of the warrior are suggestive of dental modification, a practice known to have occurred from human remains.

Description

Figures appear on two sides of this fragmentary stela (upright stone slab carved in relief). One seems to represent a grimacing warrior who brandishes a club; arrow-like darts festoon his belt and hair. On the other side is a skeleton with one fleshed hand, perhaps a sacrificed captive. The eagle with a leaf in its mouth is a hieroglyph that may identify the captive's name.

Provenance

?-1959

(Black Tulip Galleries, Inc., Dallas, TX, 1959, sold to James C. and Florence C. Gruener)

1959-1959

James C. [1903-1990] and Florence C. [1908-1982] Gruener, Cleveland, OH, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art

1959-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Lee, Sherman E. "Year in Review| 1960." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 47, no. 10 (1960): 223-54. www.jstor.org

Prufer, Olaf H. "A Post-Classic Mexican Stele." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 49, no. 8 (1962): 191-95. p. 191-2 www.jstor.org

Cleveland Museum of Art, “Mexican Limestone Stele Top,” October 17, 1962, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org

Prufer, Olaf H. "Die Kunst Des "Southern Cult" in Den östlichen Vereinigten Staaten." Paideuma 11 (1965): 68-90. Tafel II www.jstor.org

Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1984." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 72, no. 2 (1985): 163-207. www.jstor.org

Young-Sánchez, Margaret. "The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 79, no. 7 (1992): 234-75. Mentioned: cat. no. 97. p. 273, Reproduced: fig. 97, p. 259 www.jstor.org

Exhibition history

Year in Review - Nineteen Hundred Sixty. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (November 30, 1960-January 1, 1961).

The Arts of Pre- Hispanic America. The Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA (organizer) (April 12-May 31, 1970).

The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 4-November 29, 1992).