The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of January 27, 2023

Head Fragment

c. 900–300 BC

Mexico, Olmec, 1200-300 BC

Jadeite

Overall: 7.4 x 6.2 x 5 cm (2 15/16 x 2 7/16 x 1 15/16 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1961.31

Location

233 Mesoamerican and Intermediate Region

Fun Fact

In ancient Mesoamerica, jade was more valuable than gold.

Description

This sensual head fragment may come from a seated or standing figure like those shown nearby, though much larger. The carving is exceptionally fine, from the slight under-eye puffiness to the delineation of the fleshy lips and the teeth. The profile face of supernatural being is incised just in front of each ear, perhaps indicating that the subject had special power.

Provenance
?-1961
(John Wise, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1961-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
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. Cat. No. 9
Hawley, Henry H. "An Olmec Jade Head." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 48, no. 8 (1961). pp. 212-215 www.jstor.org
Lee, Sherman E. "Year in Review 1961." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 48, no. 9 (1961). p. 238, no. 16 www.jstor.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 290 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 290 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 393 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 6 archive.org
Benson, Elizabeth P., Beatriz de la Fuente, and Marcia Castro-Leal Espino. Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 1996. p. 221, Cat. No. 59
Exhibition history

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).

Olmec: Colossal Masterworks of Ancient Mexico, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (September 26, 2010- January 9, 2011); The Fine Art Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA (February 19- May 30, 2011).

Year in Review (1961). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 1-26, 1961).

Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).

The Art of the Olmec Civilization. National Gallery of Art (organizer) (June 30-October 20, 1996).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1961.31