Seated Figure (300 BCE–700 CE (thermoluminescence date, 285 BCE–515 CE)): Art, History and Details

Seated Figure (300 BCE–700 CE (thermoluminescence date, 285 BCE–515 CE)) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The most famous Zapotec tomb ceramics are elaborate figural urns flanked by smaller, simpler companions similar to this one. Like other companions, this example probably belonged to a set of nearly identical figures; two others remain in Mexico. The identity of ceramic tomb figures-whether elite humans, royal ancestors, or deities-is still debated. The Zapotec developed one of Mesoamerica’s earliest writing systems, evidenced by the hieroglyphs on the headdress and chest. These are the names of calendar days, "13 Water" and "13 Flint Knife," respectively. Because people were named after the day on which they were born, one hieroglyph may identify the figure.

Object facts

• Title: Seated Figure
• Date: 300 BCE–700 CE (thermoluminescence date, 285 BCE–515 CE)
• Culture: Mexico, Oaxaca, Zapotec style
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: ceramic, slip
• Dimensions: Overall: 32.2 x 17.9 x 18.8 cm (12 11/16 x 7 1/16 x 7 3/8 in.)
• Collection: AA - Mesoamerica
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 1954.857

Collection credit

Gift of the Hanna Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Milliken, William. "Two Pre-Columbian Sculptures." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 42, no. 4 (April 1955): 59-61.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.

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.