The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 23, 2024
Seated Deity
1350–1519
Overall: 37.5 x 20.3 x 24.8 cm (14 3/4 x 8 x 9 3/4 in.)
Location: not on view
Did You Know?
The Aztecs associated the number 5 with excess: there were five gods of pleasure, one named “Five Flower.”Description
The crested headdress with tassels suggests that this youthful, seated male is Macuilxochitl (Five Flower), an Aztec supernatural patron of many forms of pleasure, among them music, dance, feasting, games, and sex. His cult was popular among common people, and this effigy probably was created for use in a small neighborhood temple. The stone surface could have been plastered and then brightly painted.- ?-1958(Black Tulip Galleries, Inc., Dallas, TX, sold to James C. and Florence C. Gruener)1958-1990James C. [1903-1990] and Florence C. Gruener [1908-1982], Cleveland, OH, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art1990-The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Young-Sánchez, Margaret. "The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 79, no. 7 (1992): 234-75. Referenced: cat. no. 113, p. 263, Reproduced: fig. 113, p. 263 www.jstor.org
- Long-term loan/5 years (renewable to 10 years. Davis Museum and Cultural Center, Wellesley, MA (organizer) (January 27, 2000-April 1, 2005).The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 4-November 29, 1992).
- {{cite web|title=Seated Deity|url=false|author=|year=1350–1519|access-date=23 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1990.136