The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

Brown terracotta funerary urn of a figure from the shoulder up with defined details, a semi-circular pattern flaring behind their shoulders and elaborate headdress on their head. The figure has a square face and wears circular earrings almost the size of their face, a face with these features constructed from geometric shapes immediately above them, in the headdress. On either side of this headdress face bundles of leafy plant stalks flare to the sides.

Funerary Urn

350–500 CE

Mexico, Oaxaca, Zapotec

terracotta
Overall: 38.3 x 38.5 x 25.3 cm (15 1/16 x 15 3/16 x 9 15/16 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1944.78
Location: Not on view
  • ?-1944
    John Wise, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1944-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Munro, Eleanor C. The Golden Encyclopedia of Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, and Ornament, from Prehistoric Times to the Twentieth Century. New York: Golden Press, 1961.
    Boos, Frank. The Ceramic Sculptures of Ancient Oaxaca. South Brunswick [N.J.]: A.S. Barnes, 1966. p. 74
    Glubok, Shirley, Gerard Nook, and Alfred H. Tamarin. The Art of Ancient Mexico. New York: Harper & Row, 1968. p. 38
    Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies. FAMSI research materials: Explore Mesoamerica. [Crystal River, Fla.]: [FAMSI], 1994. Cat. No. CMA 44.78 research.famsi.org
    Sellen, Adam T. "Storm-God Impersonators from Ancient Oaxaca" Ancient Mesoamerica 13 (2002). p. 9, fig. 5
    Sellen, Adam T. El cielo compartido: deidades y ancestros en las vasijas efigie zapotecas. Mérida, Yuc: UNAM, Centro Peninsular en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales, 2007. p. 123, 230, 244, 245
  • Art of the Americas. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 9, 1945-January 6, 1946).
  • {{cite web|title=Funerary Urn|url=false|author=|year=350–500 CE|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1944.78