Loading
Seated Deity
1350-1519
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
The crested headdress with tassels suggests that this youthful, seated male is <em>Macuilxochitl</em> (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.
Show lessRead more
Download this artwork (provided by The Cleveland Museum of Art).
Learn more about this artwork.
Details
- Title: Seated Deity
- Date Created: 1350-1519
- Physical Dimensions: Overall: 37.5 x 20.3 x 24.8 cm (14 3/4 x 8 x 9 3/4 in.)
- Provenance: (Black Tulip Galleries, Inc., Dallas, TX, sold to James C. and Florence C. Gruener), James C. [1903-1990] and Florence C. Gruener [1908-1982], Cleveland, OH, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Type: Sculpture
- Rights: CC0
- External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/1990.136
- Medium: gray volcanic stone with red pigment
- Fun Fact: The Aztecs associated the number 5 with excess: there were five gods of pleasure, one named “Five Flower.”
- Department: Art of the Americas
- Culture: Mexico, Aztec, Valley of Mexico near Teotihuacan, Macuilxochitl (?), 14th-16th century
- Credit Line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener
- Collection: AA - Mesoamerica
- Accession Number: 1990.136
Get the app
Explore museums and play with Art Transfer, Pocket Galleries, Art Selfie, and more
