The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 17, 2025

Ballgame Thin Stone Head (Hacha)

600–900

Mexico, Gulf Coast, Classic Veracruz style

(600-1100)
stone, pigment
Overall: 61.6 x 20 x 8.8 cm (24 1/4 x 7 7/8 x 3 7/16 in.)
Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2001.89
Location: 233 Mesoamerican and Intermediate Region

Description

A tapering headdress, its base formed by a grotesque head with upturned snout, soars above a human face in this elegant thin stone head. Such heads, known as hachas, probably were used in ballgame ceremonies, though how is unclear. Equally obscure are the heads’ identities, perhaps heroic, idealized players, ballgame patrons, or characters from the game’s lore. The large area of red pigment on one side may have been sprinkled onto the head after it was buried in an offering or a tomb.
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, “Gift of Major New Stella Sculpture, Purchases of 6th-Century Jeweled Buckle, Ancient Indian Bronze Ancient Mexican Stone Head Among CMA’s Autumn Acquisitions,” December 26, 2001, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
    Bergh, Susan, "Art from the Sacred Ballgame", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 42 no. 03, March 2002 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 8-9 archive.org
    "Major Acquisitions 2000-2005." Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 45, no. 6 (July/August 2005): 6-17. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 10 archive.org
  • Waltham, MA: The Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University; November 7 - December 20, 1981. " Ancient American Art: An Aesthetic View."
  • {{cite web|title=Ballgame Thin Stone Head (Hacha)|url=false|author=|year=600–900|access-date=17 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2001.89