Seated Lord with Removable Headdress (600–800): Art, History and Details

Seated Lord with Removable Headdress (600–800) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The major Maya grave offerings on Jaina Island were ceramic figurines that depict deities and humans in a variety of roles. The standing figure represents a warrior who once probably held weapons and wears either quilted cotton armor or the feathered uniform of a military order. The seated figure also represents a male, perhaps another warrior, who wears a huge zoomorphic headdress. A skeletal face with articulated jaw descends from the headdress to fit as a mask over the figure’s face.

Object facts

• Title: Seated Lord with Removable Headdress
• Date: 600–800
• Culture: Mesoamerica, Maya, probably Jaina Island, Late Classical period, 7th-9th century
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: ceramic and slip
• Dimensions: Overall: 21 cm (8 1/4 in.)
• Collection: AA - Mesoamerica
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 2012.33

A detail from the museum

It is estimated that some 20,000 people were buried on the tiny island of Jaina over a 500-year period.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Mann, C. Griffith. “Acquisitions 2012.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 53, no. 2 (March/April 2013): 10-25.

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.