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Details / Information for Architectural Sculpture Fragment

Architectural Sculpture Fragment

c. 700–1000

Mexico, Oaxaca, Zapotec

Medium
unfired clay, covered with painted stucco
Measurements
Overall: 22.8 x 12.5 x 13 cm (9 x 4 15/16 x 5 1/8 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Brian and Florence Mahony 1996.401
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Description

This architectural sculpture fragment probably once formed part of a tomb façade; technically similar sculptures have been found at the Zapotec site Lambityeco. Ancestral tombs were usually located beneath the courtyard of the family home and were often reused for successive generations. This image of a man wearing a feline mask over the lower face may portray a lineage founder.
Fragment in the shape of a head made of unfired clay covered with stucco, a fine plaster, painted a burnt orange. Over the lower half of the face, the figure wears a feline mask with bared teeth showing two upper and two lower fangs. Their eyes are lightly silhouetted with half-ovals in a slightly darker orange and protruding eyelids. On top of their head a roughened, rectangular shape suggests hair.

Architectural Sculpture Fragment

c. 700–1000

Mexico, Oaxaca, Zapotec

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