The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Standing light brown earthenware figure with indigo pigment on the feathered armor that covers their legs, arms, potbelly, and center of their helmet, before it flares out into fin-like constructions either side. They stand, legs hip-width apart, with their right hand held up and left hanging by their side. A wrap encircles their waist and a collar their shoulders. They look at us, mouth slightly open and bulbous earring hanging from their left ear.

Warrior Figurine with Removable Headdress

600–900

Mexico, Yucatán, Jaina Island region, Campeche, Maya style

(250-900)
earthenware with pigment
Overall: 26.1 cm (10 1/4 in.)
James Albert and Mary Gardiner Ford Memorial Fund 1963.93
Location: 233 Mesoamerican and Intermediate Region

Did You Know?

Maya blue pigment was made by combining clay with indigo in a complex technique developed around the ninth century.

Description

The major offerings placed in the Maya graves of Jaina Island were ceramic figurines, some of Mesoamerica's finest, that depict deities and humans in a variety of roles. This warrior, his headdress removable, once probably held weapons and wears either quilted cotton armor or the feathered uniform of a military order. We don't know why such figures are often pot-bellied.
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 293 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. 294 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. 397 archive.org
    Fortenberry, Diane, ed. The Art Museum. London; New York: Phaidon Press, 2017. Reproduced: P. 232, no. 1
  • The Blood of Kings: A New Interpretation of Maya Art. Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX (organizer) (May 17-August 24, 1986); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 8-December 14, 1986).
    Year in Review (1963). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 27, 1963-January 5, 1964).
  • {{cite web|title=Warrior Figurine with Removable Headdress|url=false|author=|year=600–900|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1963.93