The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Head Fragment

c. 900–300 BCE

Mesoamerica, Mexico, Olmec

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

Did You Know?

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.
  • ?-1961
    (John Wise, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1961-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • 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
    Bergh, Susan E. "'The Art of Those Who Lived Here Before the White Man Came': Collecting the Ancient Americas at the Cleveland Museum of Art." In Collecting the “Other Americas”: Ancient Americas Collections in American Art Museums, edited by Victoria I. Lyall, and Ellen Hoobler, 67- 82. Denver, Colorado: Mayer Center for Ancient and Latin American Art at the Denver Art Museum, 2025. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 75-76, fig. 14
  • The Art of the Olmec Civilization. National Gallery of Art (organizer) (June 30-October 20, 1996).
    Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).
    Year in Review (1961). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 1-26, 1961).
    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).
  • {{cite web|title=Head Fragment|url=false|author=|year=c. 900–300 BCE|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

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