250–900
Stucco, paint
Overall: 33.2 x 17.5 x 29.7 cm (13 1/16 x 6 7/8 x 11 11/16 in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener 1990.183
Maya elites practiced cranial modification on infants to achieve the sloped profile seen in this tenoned head.
The Maya often lavishly decorated the exteriors of buildings, transforming them into elaborate sculptural works in their own right. This sensitively modeled head, made from fragile stucco, would have been affixed to the façade of a palace or temple via the tenon (projection) at the back of the head. The rest of the body may have been modeled separately.
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