Butterfly Nose Ornament

Description

Near Teotihuacán’s largest palace is a temple ornamented with green-feathered serpents, symbols of the earth’s fertility. Beneath the temple were at least 120 human sacrifices, most men, many warriors, and some wearing greenstone ornaments like these, perhaps a set. The sacrifices may have consecrated the temple or a ruler’s tomb, or both.

Provenance

(Valetta Swan); James and Florence Gruener, Cleveland, 1965

Butterfly Nose Ornament

[]

150–200 CE

Accession Number

1990.263.2

Medium

jadeite-albitite?

Dimensions

Overall: 4.8 x 6.5 x 0.4 cm (1 7/8 x 2 9/16 x 3/16 in.)

Classification

Stone

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener