Standing Female Figure
Unknown Artist
c. 1000–1500
Medium
stone
Dimensions
70 × 33 × 22.5 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
Art of the Americas
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener
Accession Number
1990.169
About this artwork
The female depicted in this sculpture wears a serpent-maw headdress—the female’s head appears within the jaws of the serpent, whose eyes can be seen on the “fan” of stone around the head. Many elite Mesoamerican people of the period are shown wearing similar headdresses, suggesting that such sculptures represent noble women. In the past, they have been interpreted as supernatural beings.