Stela Fragment (600–950): Art, History and Details

Stela Fragment (600–950) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Figures appear on two sides of this fragmentary stela (upright stone slab carved in relief). One seems to represent a grimacing warrior who brandishes a club; arrow-like darts festoon his belt and hair. On the other side is a skeleton with one fleshed hand, perhaps a sacrificed captive. The eagle with a leaf in its mouth is a hieroglyph that may identify the captive's name.

Object facts

• Title: Stela Fragment
• Date: 600–950
• Culture: Mexico, Veracruz?, 600-950 AD
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: limestone
• Dimensions: Each: 31.8 x 30.8 x 12.2 cm (12 1/2 x 12 1/8 x 4 13/16 in.)
• Collection: AA - Mesoamerica
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 1959.334

A detail from the museum

The pointed teeth of the warrior are suggestive of dental modification, a practice known to have occurred from human remains.

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. "Year in Review| 1960." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 47, no. 10 (1960): 223-54.
• Prufer, Olaf H. "A Post-Classic Mexican Stele." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 49, no. 8 (1962): 191-95.
• Cleveland Museum of Art, “Mexican Limestone Stele Top,” October 17, 1962, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.

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.