Figurine Holding A Ball(?) (1500–500 BCE): Art, History and Details
Figurine Holding A Ball(?) at the Cleveland Museum of Art: 1500–500 BCE, earthenware, pigment. Explore the work's context, creator attribution and collection history.
Figurine Holding A Ball(?) (1500–500 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.
The work and its context
The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:
Ballgame ceremonialism and art peaked between AD 600 and 1100 in Veracruz and elsewhere, but forms of a ballgame were played at most times and places in Mesoamerica. This charming figurine, which seems to hold a ball, illustrates that the game developed much earlier, although we know little about its meaning during this period.
Object facts
- Title: Figurine Holding A Ball(?)
- Date: 1500–500 BCE
- Culture: Mexico, Guerrero, Xochipala style
- Type: Ceramic
- Technique: earthenware, pigment
- Dimensions: Overall: 15 cm (5 7/8 in.)
- Collection: AA - Mesoamerica
- Department: Art of the Americas
- Accession number: 1998.82
Collection credit
Gift of Clara Taplin Rankin
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.
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