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Source Description
This richly dressed elite male belonged to a row of identical figures who processed along the walls of a patio in one of Teotihuacán’s wealthy apartment compounds. He offers a chant or prayer, materialized in a mouth scroll, along with a flower-filled libation that cascades from one hand. In the other hand, he carries an incense bag. The thorny spines of the maguey cactus, in front and behind, may allude to the offering of precious blood and a ritual beverage made from the cactus’s sap (pulque, a less refined form of tequila). The spines are thrust into objects that may represent bundles or plots of land.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
138881
label
Mural Fragment with Elite Male and Maguey Cactus Leaves
core
obj
dtoType
painting
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
138881
contentType
painting
title
Mural Fragment with Elite Male and Maguey Cactus Leaves
description
This richly dressed elite male belonged to a row of identical figures who processed along the walls of a patio in one of Teotihuacán’s wealthy apartment compounds. He offers a chant or prayer, materialized in a mouth scroll, along with a flower-filled libation that cascades from one hand. In the other hand, he carries an incense bag. The thorny spines of the maguey cactus, in front and behind, may allude to the offering of precious blood and a ritual beverage made from the cactus’s sap (pulque, a less refined form of tequila). The spines are thrust into objects that may represent bundles or plots of land.
date
500–550
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60469044
genreSpecific
Painting
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 83.2 x 116.2 cm (32 3/4 x 45 3/4 in.)
cul
Central Mexico, Tlacuilapaxco apartment compound(?), Teotihuacán style, Classic Period
accession
1963.252
Source extras
tec
fresco on wall fragment
tombstone
Mural Fragment with Elite Male and Maguey Cactus Leaves, 500–550. Central Mexico, Tlacuilapaxco apartment compound(?), Teotihuacán style, Classic Period. Fresco on wall fragment; overall: 83.2 x 116.2 cm (32 3/4 x 45 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1963.252
collection
AA - Mesoamerica
didYouKnow
This fragment is from a larger composition that covered the walls of a patio at Teotihuacan.
citations
citation
Berrin, Kathleen, and Clara Millon. <em>Feathered Serpents and Flowering Trees: Reconstructing the Murals of Teotihuacán.</em> [San Francisco, Calif.]: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1988.
page_number
pp. 195-205
citation
Lee, Sherman E. "Year in Review for 1963." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 50, no. 10 (1963).
page_number
p. 291
citation
Kubler, George. "The Iconography of the Art of Teotihuacán." <em>Studies in Pre-Columbian Art and Archaeology</em>, no. 4 (1967).
page_number
p. 4, 7-8 , fig. 17
citation
Miller, Arthur G. <em>The Mural Painting of Teotihuacán</em>. Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks, 1973.
page_number
p. 36-37, 170, fig. 366
citation
Millon, René. <em>Urbanization at Teotihuacán, Mexico.</em> Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1973.
page_number
p. 33-36, 121, fig. 48b
citation
Young-Sánchez, Margaret. "Veneration of the Dead: Religious Ritual on a Pre-Columbian Mirror-Back." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 77, no. 9 (1990)
page_number
p. 328, fig. 4
citation
<em>Mexican Art Abroad</em>. (Mexico: Groupo Azabache S.A. de C.V, 1994).
citation
<em>México en el mundo de las colecciones de arte</em>. [México, D.F.]: [El Gobierno de la República], 1994. .
page_number
p. 84
citation
Stokstad, Marilyn. <em>Art History.</em> New York, NY: Abrams, 1995.
page_number
p. 145
citation
Gardner, Helen, Richard G. Tansey, and Fred S. Kleiner. <em>Gardner's Art Through the Ages</em>. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1996.
citation
Turner, J. S.<em> The Dictionary of Art. </em>New York: Grove, 1996.
citation
Stokstad, Marilyn.<em> Art History</em>. [Place of publication not identified]: Prentice Hall, 2001.
citation
Honour, Hugh, and John Fleming. <em>A World History of Art.</em> London: Laurence King, 1999.
citation
Honour, Hugh, and John Fleming.<em> A World History of Art</em>. London: Laurence King, 2002.
page_number
p. 522, fig. 12.3
citation
Stokstad, Marilyn, David Cateforis, and Stephen Addiss.<em> Art History</em>. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2005. .
page_number
fig. 12-7
citation
Honour, Hugh, and John Fleming. <em>A World History of Art</em>. London: Laurence King, 2005.
page_number
p. 509, fig. 12.3
citation
Hernaez, Gerardo A. Ramirez and Esmeralda Reynoso Camacho. <em>The Skin of Teotihuacan</em>. (Arts and Cultures, 2008).
page_number
p. 116, fig. 13
citation
Wilkins, David G., Bernard Schultz, and Katheryn M. Linduff. <em>Art Past, Art Present.</em> Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Education, 2008.
citation
Bray, Warwick, and David H. Trump.<em> The Penguin Dictionary of Archaeology.</em> Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1972.
creditline
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 07:06:46.244000
sourceId
138881
dept
Art of the Americas
coll
AA - Mesoamerica
med
fresco on wall fragment
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
d7fe95223e756951