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Source Description
The headdress shown on this vessel combines a serpent's mouth with a butterfly's proboscis (feeding tube), which curls between the eyes. The butterfly often appears in the headdress of the Great Goddess, an extremely important Teotihuacán deity. Stucco (paper-thin, painted plaster) is fragile and usually does not survive well; the stucco of the basin in this case has been repaired.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
155512
label
Vessel with Butterfly Headdress
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
155512
contentType
object
title
Vessel with Butterfly Headdress
description
The headdress shown on this vessel combines a serpent's mouth with a butterfly's proboscis (feeding tube), which curls between the eyes. The butterfly often appears in the headdress of the Great Goddess, an extremely important Teotihuacán deity. Stucco (paper-thin, painted plaster) is fragile and usually does not survive well; the stucco of the basin in this case has been repaired.
date
1–550 CE
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60756106
genreSpecific
Ceramic
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Diameter: 15.6 x 15.8 cm (6 1/8 x 6 1/4 in.); Overall: 15.5 cm (6 1/8 in.)
cul
Central Mexico, Teotihuacán, Classic period
accession
1990.231
Source extras
tec
ceramic, stucco, pigment
tombstone
Vessel with Butterfly Headdress, 1–550 CE. Central Mexico, Teotihuacán, Classic period. Ceramic, stucco, pigment; diameter: 15.6 x 15.8 cm (6 1/8 x 6 1/4 in.); overall: 15.5 cm (6 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener, 1990.231
collection
AA - Mesoamerica
citations
citation
Von Winning, Hasso, and Alfred Stendahl. Pre-Columbian Art of Mexico and Central America: Text and Notes by Hasso Von Winning. Selection of Plates by Alfred Stendahl. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1968.
page_number
p. 177, fig. 211
citation
Young-Sánchez, Margaret. "The Gruener Collection of Pre-Columbian Art." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 79, no. 7 (1992): 234-75.
page_number
Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 251
citation
Conides, Cynthia. “Figures in Action: Contextualizing the Butterfly Personage at Teotihuacan, Mexico.” In Visual Culture of the Ancient Americas: Contemporary Perspectives. Andrew Finegold and Ellen Hoobler, 103-133. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2017.
page_number
82, 105
citation
Conides, Cynthia. <em>Made to Order: Painted Ceramics of Ancient Teotihuacan</em>. Norman : University of Oklahoma Press, 2018.
page_number
Reproduced: cover, pp. 50, 74, plate 16, fig. 319a; mentioned: pp. 73, 115, 163, 195
creditline
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener
updatedAt
2026-05-29 08:03:34.128000
sourceId
155512
dept
Art of the Americas
coll
AA - Mesoamerica
med
ceramic, stucco, pigment
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
2a3ab6516642fda6