CC0 · no rights reserved
Seated Figure
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Like their contemporaries, the Olmec made figurines but of greenstone rather than clay. This one, whose identity and use are mysterious, holds objects that may address nature's fertility: on the right, perhaps a cut conch shell that refers to water, and on the left, what may be a plant or a bundle of green feathers that symbolizes new vegetation.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineSeated Figure, c. 900–300 BCE. Mesoamerica, Mexico, Olmec. Albitite; overall: 11 x 6.2 x 3.9 cm (4 5/16 x 2 7/16 x 1 9/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1941.390
