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.
Provenance
(Black Tulip Galleries, Inc., Dallas, TX, sold to James C. and Florence C. Gruener) (?-1958); James C. [1903-1990] and Florence C. Gruener [1908-1982], Cleveland, OH, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art (1958-1990); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1990-)
Accession Number
1990.136
Medium
gray volcanic stone with red pigment
Dimensions
Overall: 37.5 x 20.3 x 24.8 cm (14 3/4 x 8 x 9 3/4 in.)
Classification
Sculpture
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener