Feathered Serpent (Quetzalcoatl)
Unknown Artist
1325–1521
Medium
stone
Dimensions
27.7 × 20.1 × 22 cm
Classification
Stone
Department
Art of the Americas
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Accession Number
1941.46
About this artwork
The museum bought this sculpture in 1941, when study of ancient American arts was in its infancy. It has many odd features, a few perhaps revealing an attempt to make the subject—the Aztec deity Quetzalcoatl (Feathered Serpent)—palatable to modern viewers. But it cannot absolutely be declared fake because some real Aztec sculptures are unusual. Analysis of the surface so far provides no help. Especially odd is the arrangement of the coils into bulges that suggest the pectorals, knees, and buttoc...