id:			135812
accession number:	1959.334
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1959.334
updated:		2022-06-07 16:07:52.540000

Stela Fragment, 600–950. Mexico, Veracruz?, 600-950 AD. Limestone; each: 31.8 x 30.8 x 12.2 cm (12 1/2 x 12 1/8 x 4 13/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener 1959.334

title:				Stela Fragment
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			600–950
creation date earliest:		600
creation date latest:		950
current location:		233 Mesoamerican and Intermediate Region
creditline:			Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener
copyright:			

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culture:	Mexico, Veracruz?, 600-950 AD
technique:	limestone
department:	Art of the Americas
collection:	AA - Mesoamerica
type:		Sculpture
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

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measurements: Each: 31.8 x 30.8 x 12.2 cm (12 1/2 x 12 1/8 x 4 13/16 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		Year in Review - Nineteen Hundred Sixty
	opening date:   1960-11-30T05:00:00
	<i>Year in Review - Nineteen Hundred Sixty</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (November 30, 1960-January 1, 1961).

	title:		The Arts of Pre- Hispanic America
	opening date:   1970-04-12T05:00:00
	<i>The Arts of Pre- Hispanic America</i>. The Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA (organizer) (April 12-May 31, 1970).

	title:		The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art
	opening date:   1992-02-04T05:00:00
	<i>The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 4-November 29, 1992).

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

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PROVENANCE

	(Black Tulip Galleries, Inc., Dallas, TX, 1959, sold to James C. and Florence C. Gruener)
	date: ?-1959
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	James C. [1903-1990] and Florence C. [1908-1982] Gruener, Cleveland, OH, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art
	date: 1959-1959
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
	date: 1959-
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


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

digital description: 
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.

wall description: 
This unusual sculpture is stylistically related to the art of both Oaxaca and the Gulf Coast. The skeletal being on one side resembles a low-relief stucco death figure on the wall of Tomb 1 in Zaachila, while the theme of the figure seemingly trapped in carved scrolls is repeated on a Stela at El Tajin. The Post-classic period in Mesoamerica is marked by many such instances of long-distance stylistic influence.
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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

	Lee, Sherman E. "Year in Review| 1960." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 47, no. 10 (1960): 223-54.
	page number: 	
	url:		http://www.jstor.org/stable/25142422.

	Prufer, Olaf H. "A Post-Classic Mexican Stele." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 49, no. 8 (1962): 191-95.
	page number: 	p. 191-2
	url:		https://www.jstor.org/stable/25151911

	Cleveland Museum of Art, “Mexican Limestone Stele Top,” October 17, 1962, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
	page number: 	
	url:		https://archive.org/details/cmapr1017

	Prufer, Olaf H. "Die Kunst Des "Southern Cult" in Den östlichen Vereinigten Staaten." <em>Paideuma</em> 11 (1965): 68-90.
	page number: 	Tafel II
	url:		https://www.jstor.org/stable/40341397

	Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1984." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 72, no. 2 (1985): 163-207.
	page number: 	
	url:		http://www.jstor.org/stable/25159897.

	Young-Sánchez, Margaret. "The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 79, no. 7 (1992): 234-75.
	page number: 	Mentioned: cat. no. 97. p. 273, Reproduced: fig. 97, p. 259
	url:		http://www.jstor.org/stable/25161367.

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IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1959.334/1959.334_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1959.334/1959.334_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1959.334/1959.334_full.tif