Architectural Model (100 BCE–300 CE): Art, History and Details

Architectural Model (100 BCE–300 CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The Mezcala style takes its name from a river in its homeland, the Guerrero region of western Mexico. The style is known for small-scale stone sculptures including architectural “models” characterized by sleek abstraction. Because comparisons to actual architecture in the Mezcala region are scarce, it is not known whether the models refer to temples, houses, or underground funerary structures.

Object facts

• Title: Architectural Model
• Date: 100 BCE–300 CE
• Culture: Mesoamerica, Mexico, Guerrero, Mezcala
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: serpentine
• Dimensions: Overall: 4.9 x 3.2 x 1.1 cm (1 15/16 x 1 1/4 x 7/16 in.)
• Collection: AA - Mesoamerica
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 1990.188

A detail from the museum

Estimated dates for Mezcala sculpture have ranged from 2000 BC to as late as 1454–1521.

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener

Further reading listed by the museum

• Young-Sánchez, Margaret. “The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 79, no. 7 (September 1992): 234–275.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.