Eccentric Flint

Creator not recorded by the museum

Date: 600–900
Medium: chipped flint
Dimensions: Overall: 34.6 x 19.3 cm (13 5/8 x 7 5/8 in.)
Country / context: Guatemala
Movement / tradition: Central and South American arts
Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art
Pathway: Central and South American arts ↗

FROM THE MUSEUM

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.

Collection text · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0

A MOMENT TO LOOK

Start with what you can see: shapes, surface, colour and scale. How might the listed materials affect the way this object was made and experienced?

Looking prompt · an invitation to observe, not a historical interpretation.

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