The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 23, 2025

Fragment in the shape of a head made of unfired clay covered with stucco, a fine plaster, painted a burnt orange. Over the lower half of the face, the figure wears a feline mask with bared teeth showing two upper and two lower fangs. Their eyes are lightly silhouetted with half-ovals in a slightly darker orange and protruding eyelids. On top of their head a roughened, rectangular shape suggests hair.

Architectural Sculpture Fragment

c. 700–1000

Mexico, Oaxaca, Zapotec

unfired clay, covered with painted stucco
Overall: 22.8 x 12.5 x 13 cm (9 x 4 15/16 x 5 1/8 in.)
Gift of Brian and Florence Mahony 1996.401
Location: Not on view

Description

This architectural sculpture fragment probably once formed part of a tomb façade; technically similar sculptures have been found at the Zapotec site Lambityeco. Ancestral tombs were usually located beneath the courtyard of the family home and were often reused for successive generations. This image of a man wearing a feline mask over the lower face may portray a lineage founder.
  • {{cite web|title=Architectural Sculpture Fragment|url=false|author=|year=c. 700–1000|access-date=23 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1996.401