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"Horned" Male
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
This figure’s concentrated, otherworldly expression is emphasized by the hornlike element strapped to its forehead. This "horn" may be the spire of a conch shell, which comes from water and, therefore, refers to fertility—likely an important ritual concern of West Mexican chiefs. The element also could represent the "horn of power" worn in some areas of the world by shamans, the spiritual leaders and healers of small, nonindustrial societies.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit line"Horned" Male, 100 BCE–300 CE. West Mexico, Colima, Comala style. Earthenware with colored slips, black burial deposits; overall: 41.5 x 24.9 x 24.7 cm (16 5/16 x 9 13/16 x 9 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Fiftieth anniversary gift of the Womens Council in honor of the Museum's Seventy-fifth anniversary, 1991.20
