Photograph by Ed Pollard, Hasselblad H4D50 - 2014.

Standing Warrior in Scale Armor

Artist Unknown

Donor Spencer S. Throckmorton, II

CultureVeracruz

Date600-900

MediumTerracotta

Dimensions38 1/4 × 14 1/4 × 9 3/4 in. (97.2 × 36.2 × 24.8 cm)

Credit LineGift of Spencer Throckmorton in honor of Susan and David Goode

Object number2013.14

Collections

Ancient American Art

On View

On view

DescriptionMeasuring 37 ¾ x 14 ½ x 8 inches, this terracotta figure of a standing warrior was produced in Veracruz ca. 600–900. Depicted with wide, menacing eyes, and with mouth open and teeth barred, the figure originally held a weapon in its upraised left arm. The small circular opening in its trunk is the object’s firing hole, which cleverly doubles as the figure’s navel. The net of tiny scales covering its trunk, arms, and legs is armor. In life, such battle armor would have been made from an enemy’s flayed skin.
ProvenanceCollection of Samuel Dubiner, Toronto, Canada, and Tel Aviv, Israel, before 1970 (probably by the mid-1960s); transferred to Barry Kernerman, Toronto, Canada; purchased by Spencer Throckmorton Fine Art, New York; gift of Spencer Throckmorton to Chrysler Museum of Art, November 2013.