Head
Artist
Pre-Columbian
Date400-650 CE
Mediumfired clay
ClassificationsVisual Works
Credit LineGift of Henry Schnakenberg
Object number1954.22.69
DescriptionSmall clay object, in the shape of a marine shell. The back is concave. Traces of red pigment. Adorno from large incense burner. Represents a bivalve shell. Often occurs surmounted with a 4-petalled flower. Most commoonly used in "speech scrolls" and bands of water. The "speaking figures occur in murals depicting agricultural rituals showing priests with "charismatic" hands casting seeds on the ground or "watering" plants. One suggestion has been that the flower, when it occurs, means that the shell is "alive". In general, a reference to fertility and wealth (shells were imported).On View
Not on viewCollections
Pre-Columbian
19th century
Norman Rockwell
Herbert Meyer
![[Studies for Murals (Treasury Building ?) S. Elevation and N. Elevation]](/internal/media/dispatcher/10989/thumbnail)
1910-1920
