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
Year in Review - Nineteen Hundred Sixty. 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
The Arts of Pre- Hispanic America. 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
The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art. 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." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 47, no. 10 (1960): 223-54.
page number:
url: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25142422.
Prufer, Olaf H. "A Post-Classic Mexican Stele." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 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." Paideuma 11 (1965): 68-90.
page number: Tafel II
url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40341397
Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1984." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 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." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 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