Head with Animal Helmet (c. 600–1000): Art, History and Details

Head with Animal Helmet (c. 600–1000) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The Gulf Coast of Mexico was an important center of ceramic sculpture production for more than 2,000 years. Nearly life-size hollow effigies, produced after about AD 600, are among the most spectacular works from this region. Although the faces were sometimes made with molds, this example appears to be hand-modeled. The mythical serpent helmet indicates that the figure may be a ritual performer.

Object facts

• Title: Head with Animal Helmet
• Date: c. 600–1000
• Culture: Mexico, Gulf Coast, San Andrés Tuxtla(?)
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: earthenware, pigment
• Dimensions: Overall: 39.1 x 23.4 x 16.5 cm (15 3/8 x 9 3/16 x 6 1/2 in.)
• Collection: AA - Mesoamerica
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 1990.237

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.