The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 19, 2025
Face Urn
25–50 CE
Diameter: 19.5 cm (7 11/16 in.); Overall: 19 x 20 cm (7 1/2 x 7 7/8 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1992.125
Location: 103 Roman
Did You Know?
The phallus was often used as a protective symbol in the ancient world.Description
This wheel-thrown vase is decorated with humanlike facial features and a phallus applied to the face’s cheek. Wide arching eyebrows meet at the short bridge of the face’s puggy nose, which sits over lips pursed around its protruding tongue. Finger marks can be seen around the eyes and eyebrows where clay was added onto the surface of the vessel to form the facial features.- Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1992." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 80, no. 2 (1993): 38-79. Reproduced: p. 41; Mentioned: p. 41, 65 www.jstor.org
- Selected Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 9-April 11, 1993).CMA 1993: "Selected Acquisitions," Bull., 80 (Feb. 1993), p. 65, no. 5, repr. p 41
- {{cite web|title=Face Urn|url=false|author=|year=25–50 CE|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1992.125