Collection Online as of September 26, 2023

Ear Ornament

150–200

Part of a set. See all set records

Central Mexico, Teotihuacán style, Classic Period

Jadeite-albitite(?)

Diameter: 5.6 cm (2 3/16 in.); Overall: 2.4 cm (15/16 in.)

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener 1990.264.1

Location

233 Mesoamerican and Intermediate Region

Description

Near Teotihuacán's largest palace is a small temple gorgeously ornamented with green-feathered serpents, symbols of the earth's fertility. Beneath the temple lie at least 120 human sacrifices, most men, many warriors, and some wearing greenstone ornaments like these, perhaps a set. The sacrifices, apparently laid out to mark the cardinal directions, may have consecrated the temple or a ruler's tomb, or both.

Provenance

Valetta Swan

1965

James and Florence Gruener, Cleveland

(Valetta Swan); James and Florence Gruener, Cleveland, 1965

Exhibition history

Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art; February 4 - November 29, 1992. "The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art." The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art. 79 (September, 1992.) cat. no. 81, p. 272, repr. fig. 81, p. 255.

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