The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 18, 2024

Ear Ornament

Ear Ornament

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 1990.264.1
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.
  • Valetta Swan
    1965
    James and Florence Gruener, Cleveland
    (Valetta Swan); James and Florence Gruener, Cleveland, 1965
  • 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. 81, p. 272, repr. fig. 81, p. 255.
  • {{cite web|title=Ear Ornament|url=false|author=|year=150–200 CE|access-date=18 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1990.264.1