The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 25, 2024

Celtic Head

Celtic Head

100–300 CE

Description

This stone head has never been attached to a torso. It is known from ancient literary sources that the Celts, who originally occupied most of northern Europe from Hungary to the British Isles, practiced ritualistic veneration of the human head. For the Celts, the human head represented the seat of mankind’s magical energy. Stone heads similar to this one have survived in large numbers, especially in the upland regions of northern England (the Pennines, the Peak District, and Cumbria) where this one was undoubtedly made by British Celts during the Roman occupation. Such stone heads were probably placed in religious shrines or grottos generally associated with springs, well heads, or natural landmarks for ritual veneration.
  • Walter Carl, Frankfurt-am-Main, c. 1904-1919; Rothschild (?); (Dr. Jacob Hirsch, New York, c. 1945-1955).
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 89 archive.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Edward B. Henning. Paths of Abstract Art. Cleveland, OH: H.N. Abrams, 1960. Reproduced: fig 5, p. 8; mentioned: fig. 5, pp. 5,19
    Fliegel, Stephen. "A Little-Known Celtic Stone Head." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 77, no. 3 (1990): 82-103. Reproduced: cover, p. 83-85; Mentioned: p. 82-103 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 14 archive.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holger A. Klein. Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2007. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 94-95, no. 27
    Franklin, David. The Cleveland Museum of Art. London: Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd., 2012. Reproduced: p. 18 - 19
    Williamson, Paul. The Wyvern Collection: Medieval and Renaissance Sculpture and Metalwork. London: Thames & Hudson, 2018. CMA Mentioned: p. 15
  • Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art. National Museum of Bavaria, Munich, Germany (May 10-September 16, 2007); J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (October 30, 2007-January 20, 2008); Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (February 13-June 7, 2009).
    Set in Stone: The Face in Medieval Sculpture. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (September 26, 2006-February 19, 2007).
    Metropolitan Museum of Art (9/26/2006 - 2/19/2007): "Set in Stone: The Face in Medieval Sculpture"
    Bavarian Nationalmuseum, Munich (5/10/2007 - 9/16/2007), the J. Paul Getty Musuem, Los Angeles (10/30/2007 - 1/20/2008) and Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, TN (2/13/2009 - 6/7/2009): "Sacred Gifts and Worldly Treasures: Medieval Masterworks from the Cleveland Museum of Art"
    Juxtapositions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (September 11-October 10, 1965).
    Paths of Abstract Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 5-November 13, 1960).
  • {{cite web|title=Celtic Head|url=false|author=|year=100–300 CE|access-date=25 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1955.555