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Urn Figure
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
The figure projecting from the front of a cylindrical container wears a mouth mask perhaps shaped as a serpent’s fanged upper jaw. It probably served in a tomb as a companion to a larger, more complex figural urn. Though termed "urns," these ceramics do not contain the cremated ashes of the dead but usually are found empty.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineUrn Figure, c. 200–500 CE (thermoluminescence date, 60 BCE–390 CE. Mexico, Oaxaca, Zapotec. Earthenware; overall: 26.1 x 16.3 x 16.3 cm (10 1/4 x 6 7/16 x 6 7/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener, 1990.277
