Pendant Plaque (c. 500–700): Art, History and Details

Pendant Plaque (c. 500–700) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This exceptionally large and elaborate plaque depicts a human being costumed as a jaguar, with claws on hands and feet, and a jaguar-head helmet. At the Zapotec capital, Monte Albán, dignitaries in feline garb are portrayed in several relief sculptures. A pendant similar to this one was found in an architectural dedicatory offering deposit at Monte Albán.

Object facts

• Title: Pendant Plaque
• Date: c. 500–700
• Culture: Mexico, Oaxaca, Zapotec, 6th-8th Century
• Type: Jade
• Technique: jade
• Dimensions: Overall: 15.1 x 7.3 x 0.7 cm (5 15/16 x 2 7/8 x 1/4 in.)
• Collection: AA - Mesoamerica
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 1948.358

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Milliken, William. "Pre-Columbian Jade and Hard Stone." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 36, no. 4 (April 1949): 53-55.

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.