The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

Coarse, black-brown, stone sculpture of the feathered serpent, Quetzalcoatl, depicted as if a human in costume, the body enwrapped in the knotted body of the snake and the head, looking up, protruding from the top. The mouth is covered by a mask, while the nose, eyes, and ears present the simplified features of a human face. Chinks carved into the serpent tail suggest feathers.

Feathered Serpent (Quetzalcoatl)

1325–1521

Central Mexico, Aztec or modern, Post-Classic Period or modern

stone
Overall: 27.7 x 20.1 x 22 cm (10 7/8 x 7 15/16 x 8 11/16 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1941.46
Location: Not on view

Description

The museum bought this sculpture in 1941, when study of ancient American arts was in its infancy. It has many odd features, a few perhaps revealing an attempt to make the subject—the Aztec deity Quetzalcoatl (Feathered Serpent)—palatable to modern viewers. But it cannot absolutely be declared fake because some real Aztec sculptures are unusual. Analysis of the surface so far provides no help. Especially odd is the arrangement of the coils into bulges that suggest the pectorals, knees, and buttocks of a human body, as though the sculpture represents a human in a serpent costume. Real Aztec sculpture usually portrays the serpent's dangerous body more realistically. Also, the mouth mask—the insignia of a wind deity related to Quetzalcoatl and, thus, perhaps appropriate—is much larger in genuine sculptures. This suggests that, because the mask and its authentic proportion are strange to our eyes, a forger scaled it down. Other uncommon features include the incomplete carving of the ears, the fact that the human head does not emerge from a serpent's mouth, and more.
  • Flint Institute of Arts. Art Marches on!: The Opening and Dedicating Exhibition of the New Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, Michigan, November 14-December 13, 1941. Flint, Mich.: The Institute, 1941. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 27, cat. no. 46
    Flint Institute of Arts. Art Marches on!: The Opening and Dedicating Exhibition of the New Flint Institute of Arts, Flint, Michigan, November 14-December 13, 1941. Flint, Mich: The Institute. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 27, no. 46
    Cleveland Museum of Art, and Jay I. Kislak Reference Collection (Library of Congress). Art of the Americas. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1946. Reproduced: p. 21 archive.org
    Society of the Four Arts (Palm Beach, Fla), and Gordon F. Ekholm. Pre-Columbian Art, the Native Art of America Before the Conquest: Jan. 10-Feb. 1, 1953. Palm Beach: Society of the Four Arts, 1952. Mentioned: cat. no. 49
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 363 archive.org
  • The Arts of Pre- Hispanic America. The Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA (organizer) (April 12-May 31, 1970).
    Pre-Columbian Art: The Native Art of America Before the Conquest. The Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, FL (January 10–February 1,1953).
    Art of the Americas. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 9, 1945-January 6, 1946).
    The Ancient Art of the North American Continent. Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH (January 1944)
    Art of the Americas. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 19-April 11, 1943).
    Art Marches On. Flint Institute of the Arts, Flint, MI (November 14–December 31, 1941)
  • {{cite web|title=Feathered Serpent (Quetzalcoatl)|url=false|author=|year=1325–1521|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1941.46