The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of October 7, 2026

A reddish-brown stucco sculpture depicts a fragmented human head wearing a tall, pointed headdress with a thick, ridged band. The face features downcast eyes, a broad nose, and full, parted lips. Small circular holes mark the forehead and cheeks, while the ears are roughly shaped. The surface is weathered and pitted, with faded paint across the cheeks and hat, ending in a broken, jagged neck.

Head from a Building's Façade

250–900 CE

Mexico, Campeche, Maya style

(250-900)
stucco, paint
Overall: 33.2 x 17.5 x 29.7 cm (13 1/16 x 6 7/8 x 11 11/16 in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener 1990.183
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Maya elites practiced cranial modification on infants to achieve the sloped profile seen in this tenoned head.

Description

The Maya often lavishly decorated the exteriors of buildings, transforming them into elaborate sculptural works in their own right. This sensitively modeled head, made from fragile stucco, would have been affixed to the façade of a palace or temple via the tenon (projection) at the back of the head. The rest of the body may have been modeled separately.
  • ?-1972
    (Stendahl Art Galleries, Los Angeles, CA, 1972, sold to James C. and Florence C. Gruener)
    1972-1990
    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
  • Young-Sãnchez, Margaret. "The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 79, no. 7 (1992): 234-75. Reproduced: cover; Mentioned: p. 255 www.jstor.org
  • The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 4-November 29, 1992).
    Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art; February 4 - November 29, 1992. "The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art." The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art. 79 (September, 1992.) cat. no. 90, p. 272, repr. fig. 90, cover.
  • {{cite web|title=Head from a Building's Façade|url=false|author=|year=250–900 CE|access-date=07 October 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1990.183