id:			129799
accession number:	1952.233
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1952.233
updated:		2021-06-08 09:00:46.729000

Backrest of a Litter, 900-1470. Central Andes, North Coast, Chimú people, Late Intermediate Period (AD 900 - 1470). Mixed media:  wood, gold alloy, pigment, shell inlay; overall: 60.4 x 95 cm (23 3/4 x 37 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1952.233

title:				Backrest of a Litter
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			900-1470
creation date earliest:		900
creation date latest:		1470
current location:		232 Andean
creditline:			John L. Severance Fund
copyright:			

---

culture:	Central Andes, North Coast, Chimú people, Late Intermediate Period (AD 900 - 1470)
technique:	mixed media:  wood, gold alloy, pigment, shell inlay
department:	Art of the Americas
collection:	AA - Andes
type:		Sculpture
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

---

CREATORS

---

measurements: Overall: 60.4 x 95 cm (23 3/4 x 37 3/8 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

---

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

---

LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

* <em>Ancient Arts of the Andes</em>, Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY (January 26- March 29, 1954).<br><br><em>Treasures of Peruvian Gold</em>, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 23- April 3, 1996).

---

PROVENANCE

	John Wise, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art
	date: ?-1952
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
	date: 1952-
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


---

fun fact: 
Cinnabar, a toxic mercuric sulfide, was used to color the red background and faces of the figures.

digital description: 


wall description: 
This rare, dramatic object served as the back support of a litter carried by human porters, a mode of transport reserved for honored members of many societies without draft animals or wheeled vehicles. The simple, bold figures—perhaps a Chimú lord and four officials—all wear wide collars, tunics, and crescent headdresses that are either brightly painted or covered with golden but now-corroded sheet metal. The holes at the bottom probably served as lashing points for a beam that supported the litter's seat.
---

RELATED WORKS

---

CITATIONS

	"Art and Archaeology at the Cleveland Museum of Art." <em>Archaeology</em> 6, no. 4 (1953)
	page number: 	p. 202
	url:		https://www.jstor.org/stable/41663172

	Bennett, Wendell Clark. <em>Ancient Arts of the Andes. </em>New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1954.
	page number: 	p. 120, fig. 137
	url:		

	The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook.</em> Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
	page number: 	Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 351
	url:		https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n67

	Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, and Jay I. Kislak Collection (Library of Congress). <em>Memoirs of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology,</em> Harvard University. Cambridge: The Museum, 1937.
	page number: 	p. 68
	url:		

	The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
	page number: 	Reproduced: p. 299
	url:		https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n323

	Glubok, Shirley, Shirley Glubok, and Gerard Nook<em>. The Art of Ancient Peru.</em> New York: Harper &amp; Row, 1966.
	page number: 	
	url:		

	Cleveland Museum of Art<em>. Selected Works: Cleveland Museum of Art. </em>1967.
	page number: 	p. 235
	url:		

	The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
	page number: 	Reproduced: p. 299
	url:		https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n323

	Howard, Cecil, and J. H. Parry. <em>Pizarro and the Conquest of Peru. </em>London: Cassell, 1970.
	page number: 	p. 76
	url:		

	Masada, Yoshio. <em>Ancient American Art</em> (Japan, Gakken Co. Ltd, 1973)
	page number: 	
	url:		

	The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
	page number: 	Reproduced: p. 403
	url:		https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n423

	Scott, John F. <em>Latin American Art: Ancient to Modern</em>. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1999.
	page number: 	
	url:		

---

IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1952.233/1952.233_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1952.233/1952.233_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1952.233/1952.233_full.tif