The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 23, 2022

Standing Female Figure

c. 1000-1500

Mexico, Gulf Coast, Huastec

Stone

Overall: 70 x 33 x 22.5 cm (27 9/16 x 13 x 8 7/8 in.)

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener 1990.169

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

The position of the figure’s hands on her belly may suggest motherhood.

Description

The female depicted in this sculpture wears a serpent-maw headdress—the female’s head appears within the jaws of the serpent, whose eyes can be seen on the “fan” of stone around the head. Many elite Mesoamerican people of the period are shown wearing similar headdresses, suggesting that such sculptures represent noble women. In the past, they have been interpreted as supernatural beings.

Provenance
?-1969
John A. Stokes, Upper Nyack, NY, gift to James C. and Florence C. Gruener
1969-1990
James C. [1903-1990] and Florence C. [1908-1982] Gruener, Cleveland, OH, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1990
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Citations
Young-Sánchez, Margaret. "The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 79, no. 7 (1992): 234-75. Referenced: cat. no. 99, p. 273, Reproduced: fig. 99, p. 261 www.jstor.org
Exhibition history

The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 4-November 29, 1992).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1990.169