Female Head

Culture Ancient Maya

Artist/Culture Pre-Columbian

Date800 CE

Mediumpainted stucco

Dimensions26 x 18.3 x 14.9 cm (10 1/4 x 7 3/16 x 5 7/8 in.)

ClassificationsSculpture

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Terms

stucco

Object number1969.52

Label TextThis sculpture belongs to a large group of similar heads that were probably mounted high on a wall. Few of these heads represented historical individuals but rather deities or the Maya ideal of beauty, an ideal that included protruding eyes, a slightly opened mouth with an extended lower lip, and a flattened forehead. The well-preserved state of this sculpture and some traces of green and blue paint indicate that this head adorned an interior wall. The headdress and ear ornaments may have been deliberately broken off by the Maya as a part of the ritual burial of the building.ProvenanceOrigins Gallery, Boston

On View

Not on view