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

Seated Lord with Removable Headdress: 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 headdress belongs to a seated figure who 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: 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.b

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

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.