Urn Figure (c. 150 BCE–200 CE (thermoluminescence date, 60 BCE–642 CE)): Art, History and Details

Urn Figure (c. 150 BCE–200 CE (thermoluminescence date, 60 BCE–642 CE)) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This simply posed and costumed urn figure represents a goddess, or perhaps an ancestress. Early Zapotec ceramic art has a spare elegance that contrasts strongly with the florid ornamentation of later works.

Object facts

• Title: Urn Figure
• Date: c. 150 BCE–200 CE (thermoluminescence date, 60 BCE–642 CE)
• Culture: Mexico, Oaxaca, Zapotec
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: earthenware
• Dimensions: Overall: 29.8 x 14.4 x 13 cm (11 3/4 x 5 11/16 x 5 1/8 in.)
• Collection: AA - Mesoamerica
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 1990.273

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener

Further reading listed by the museum

• Boos, Frank H. The Ceramic Sculptures of Ancient Oaxaca. Los Angeles (California): [s.n.], 1967.
• Young-Sánchez, Margaret. "The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 79, no. 7 (1992): 234-75.

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.