Architectural Scene (200 BCE–300 CE): Art, History and Details

Architectural Scene (200 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:

This scene, which shows several people inside a structure, is a compact version of larger, more elaborate examples. Like them, it could depict festivities held to commemorate one of life’s milestones, such as marriage or the coming of age.

Object facts

• Title: Architectural Scene
• Date: 200 BCE–300 CE
• Culture: Mesoamerica, West Mexico, Nayarit
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: ceramic, pigment
• Dimensions: Overall: 19 x 13 x 9.5 cm (7 1/2 x 5 1/8 x 3 3/4 in.)
• Collection: AA - Mesoamerica
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 1990.258

A detail from the museum

This scene may depict festivities held to commemorate one of life’s milestones, such as marriage.

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 (1992): 234-75.

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.