The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

Pair of Ear Ornaments

Pair of Ear Ornaments

150–200 CE
jadeite-albitite(?)
Diameter: 5.6 cm (2 3/16 in.); Overall: 2.4 cm (15/16 in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener 1990.264
Location: 233 Mesoamerican and Intermediate Region

Description

Near Teotihuacán's largest palace is a small temple gorgeously ornamented with green-feathered serpents, symbols of the earth's fertility. Beneath the temple lie at least 120 human sacrifices, most men, many warriors, and some wearing greenstone ornaments like these, perhaps a set. The sacrifices, apparently laid out to mark the cardinal directions, may have consecrated the temple or a ruler's tomb, or both.
  • ?-1965
    Valetta Swan, 1965, to James C. and Florence C. Gruener
    1965-1990
    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-Sánchez, Margaret. "The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 79, no. 7 (1992): 234-75. Reproduced and 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).
  • {{cite web|title=Pair of Ear Ornaments|url=false|author=|year=150–200 CE|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1990.264