The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 21, 2023

Urn Figure

c. 150 BC-AD 200 (Thermoluminescence date, 60 BC-AD 642)

Mexico, Oaxaca, Zapotec

Earthenware

Overall: 29.8 x 14.4 x 13 cm (11 3/4 x 5 11/16 x 5 1/8 in.)

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener 1990.273

Location

not on view

Description

This simply posed and costumed urn figure represents a goddess, or perhaps an ancestress. Early Zapotec ceramic art has a spare elegance that contrasts strongly with the florid ornamentation of later works.

Provenance
?-1961
(Everett Rassiga, Inc., New York, NY, 1961, sold to James C. and Florence C. Gruener)
1961-1990
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
Boos, Frank H. The Ceramic Sculptures of Ancient Oaxaca. Los Angeles (California): [s.n.], 1967. p. 134
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. 249 www.jstor.org
Exhibition history

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. 51, p. 270, repr. fig. 51, p. 249.

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/1990.273