Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Source Description
Named for their unusual shapes, eccentric flints often have intricately silhouetted figures like this. At the forehead of the main profile face is a smoking torch, the insignia of a deity closely linked to rulers and known today as K’awil. Smaller faces appear on three protrusions. Some flints may have served as scepters; they also were buried as offerings beneath buildings and sculptures.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
127481
label
Eccentric Flint
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
127481
contentType
object
title
Eccentric Flint
description
Named for their unusual shapes, eccentric flints often have intricately silhouetted figures like this. At the forehead of the main profile face is a smoking torch, the insignia of a deity closely linked to rulers and known today as K’awil. Smaller faces appear on three protrusions. Some flints may have served as scepters; they also were buried as offerings beneath buildings and sculptures.
date
600–900
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60759744
genreSpecific
Stone
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 34.6 x 19.3 cm (13 5/8 x 7 5/8 in.)
cul
Guatemala, Quirigua, Maya style (250-900)
accession
1950.161
Source extras
tec
chipped flint
tombstone
Eccentric Flint, 600–900. Guatemala, Quirigua, Maya style (250-900). Chipped flint; overall: 34.6 x 19.3 cm (13 5/8 x 7 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1950.161
collection
AA - Mesoamerica
citations
citation
<em>Cleveland Museum of Art Picture Book</em>
page_number
231
citation
Whitaker, Irwin. <em>Crafts and Craftsmen</em>. Dubuque, Iowa: W.C. Brown, 1967.
citation
International Congress of Americanists, Rudolf Grossmann, and Gustav Wilhelm Otto Antze.<em> Verhandlung des XXIV. Internationalen amerikanistenkongresses, Hamburg, 7. bis 13. september 1930.</em> Nendeln/Liechtenstein: Kraus Reprint, 1968.
citation
The Brummer Gallery Records. Cloisters (Museum), n.d.
page_number
N3872
citation
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. <em>An Exhibition of Pre-Columbian Art. </em>Cambridge, Mass: William Hayes Fogg art museum, Harvard University, 1940.
page_number
cat. no.5, p. 17
citation
Kelemen, Pál. <em>Medieval American Art: A Survey in Two Volumes. </em>New York: The Macmillan Company, 1943.
page_number
p. 21, pl. 256d
citation
Morley, Sylvanus Griswold. <em>The Ancient Maya.</em> Stanford Cal: Stanford University Press, 1946.
page_number
p. 440
citation
Foote. Helen. "Four Pre-Columbian Ornaments." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 38, no. 3 (March 1951): 62-63.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 58; Mentioned: p. 62
citation
"Art and Archeology at The Cleveland Museum of Art." <em>Archaeology</em>. (Winter, 1953.).
page_number
p. 202
citation
Covarrubias, Miguel.<em> Indian Art of Mexico and Central America. </em>New York: Knopf, 1957.
page_number
pl. LIII (Left)
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook.</em> Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 373
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 294
citation
Alsop, Joseph. "Treasures of the Cleveland Museum of Art." <em>Art In America</em>. (May - June 1966).
page_number
p. 76
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art.<em> Selected Works: Cleveland Museum of Art. </em>1967.
page_number
p. 294
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 294
citation
The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 398
citation
Robicsek, Francis. <em>The Smoking Gods: Tobacco in Maya Art, History, and Religion.</em> 1978.
page_number
p. 76, fig. 79D
citation
Schele, Linda, Mary Ellen Miller, and Justin Kerr. <em>The Blood of Kings: Dynasty and Ritual in Maya Art. </em>New York: G. Braziller, 1986.
page_number
Pl. 25, pp. 78, 83, 101
citation
Lucena Salmoral, Manuel. <em>América 1492: retrato de un continente hace quinientos años</em>. Madrid: Anaya, 1990.
page_number
p. 216
citation
Fasquelle, Ricardo Agurica. Mayan Artistry Unearthed.<em> National Geographic Magazine</em>. (September, 1991).
page_number
p. 102
citation
Palenque Round Table, Merle Greene Robertson, Martha J. Macri, and Jan McHargue. <em>Eighth Palenque Round Table, </em>1993. San Francisco: Pre-Columbian Art Research Institute, 1996.
citation
Bradburne, James M., Annette Weber, and James Clifton<em>. Blut: Kunst, Macht, Politik, Pathologie.</em> München: Prestel, 2001.
page_number
fig. 5
citation
Keoke, Emory Dean, and Kay Marie Porterfield. <em>Encyclopedia of American Indian Contributions to the World: 15,000 Years of Inventions and Innovations</em>. New York, NY: Facts on File, 2002.
page_number
p. 109
citation
Bradburne, James M., and James Clifton<em>. Blood: art, power, politics, and pathology.</em> Munich: Prestel, 2002.
page_number
p. 44, fig. 5
citation
Summers, David.<em> Real Spaces: World Art History and the Rise of Western Modernism</em>. London: Phaidon Press, 2003.
citation
Miller, Mary Ellen, and Megan Eileen O'Neil. <em>Maya art and architecture.</em> 2014.
page_number
p. 83, pl. 197, 221
citation
Biro, Yaëlle, Christine E. Brennan, and Christel H. Force. The Brummer Galleries, Paris and New York: Defining Taste from Antiquities to the Avant-Garde. Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2023.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 306; Reproduced: p. 310, fig. 6.9
citation
Wanjiru, Florence. “Maya Eccentric Flints.” <em>First American Art Magazine</em>, n. 50 (Spring 2026): 34-41.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 36
creditline
John L. Severance Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:33:51.265000
sourceId
127481
dept
Art of the Americas
coll
AA - Mesoamerica
med
chipped flint
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
9426a015d54dfc60