The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of September 16, 2026

A stone mask features a flat, rectangular forehead and tapered chin. The mottled gray-green stone shows reddish-brown discoloration and a weathered surface. Recessed, almond-shaped eyes sit beneath a thick horizontal brow ridge. A wide nose projects above a slightly open mouth. A protrusion with a small hole represents an ear on the left, while a section on the right is missing. Reddish-brown spots dot the forehead and cheek.

Mask

1–550 CE

Central Mexico, Teotihuacán style, Classic period

stone
Overall: 13.4 x 12.8 x 6.7 cm (5 1/4 x 5 1/16 x 2 5/8 in.)
The Norweb Collection 1950.409
Location: 233 Mesoamerican and Intermediate Region

Did You Know?

These stone masks have been found near temples, but not in homes or burials.

Description

Many Teotihuacán masks were once tied to something via holes on the back--perhaps a body-shaped form dressed in garments, ornaments, and a headdress that identified the figure. The stone masks’ eyes and mouths once held inlays representing irises, pupils, and teeth.
  • ?-1950
    Raymond Henry Norweb [1894-1983] and Emery May Holden Norweb [1895-1984], Cleveland OH, 1950, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1950
    The Cleveland Museum of Art
  • Young-Sánchez, Margaret. "Veneration of the Dead: Religious Ritual on a Pre-Columbian Mirror-Back." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 77, no. 9 (1990): 326-51. Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 328-29 www.jstor.org
  • Cleveland, OH. The Cleveland Museum of Art; Novemeber 9. 1945-January 6, 1946. "Art of the Americas."
  • {{cite web|title=Mask|url=false|author=|year=1–550 CE|access-date=16 September 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1950.409