id:			156295
accession number:	1992.129
share license status:	Copyrighted
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1992.129
updated:		2023-01-11 07:01:51.221000

Beer Container (Máhuetan), c. 1940. Amazonia, Peru, Ucayali River region, Shipibo people. Ceramic, slip; diameter: 79 cm (31 1/8 in.); height: 68 cm (26 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Elizabeth M. Skala 1992.129

title:				Beer Container (Máhuetan)
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			c. 1940
creation date earliest:		1935
creation date latest:		1945
current location:		
creditline:			Bequest of Elizabeth M. Skala
copyright:			

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culture:	Amazonia, Peru, Ucayali River region, Shipibo people
technique:	Ceramic, slip
department:	Art of the Americas
collection:	AA - Andes
type:		Ceramic
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

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measurements: Diameter: 79 cm (31 1/8 in.); height: 68 cm (26 3/4 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		Stories From Storage
	opening date:   2021-02-07T05:00:00
	<i>Stories From Storage</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

* <em>The Cosmos Encoiled: Indian Art of the Peruvian Amazon</em>, Center for Inter- American Relations, New York, NY (February 15- April 29, 1984).

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PROVENANCE

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fun fact:
This jar is a beer keg used during festivals in the Shipibo-Conibo area of Amazonian Peru.

digital description:
Jars like this one are used as beer kegs during multi-day feasts. The shape and colors may reference a tiered cosmos, graduating from the earthen tones of the dark underworld to the bright, light-filled celestial realm. Perhaps extending this idea, the brown, tapered base is buried in the earth to keep the vessel’s contents cool.

wall description:
Large jars like this one are used as beer kegs during multi-day feasts among the Shipibo, who live in Peru’s eastern, Amazonian region. The beer—made from the starchy tuber known variously as manioc, yuca, or cassava—is more than required festival fare. The Shipibo seem to compare it to fertilizing body fluids, especially semen. Also, the jar’s shape and colors may reference a tiered cosmos, graduating from the earthen tones of the dark underworld to the bright, light-filled celestial realm. Perhaps extending this idea, the brown, tapered base was buried in the earth to keep the vessel’s contents cool.
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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

	Gebhart-Sayer, Angelika. <em>The Cosmos Encoiled: Indian Art of the Peruvian Amazon</em>. New York: Center for Inter-American Relations, 1984.
	page number: 	p. 11
	url:		

	Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1992." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 80, no. 2 (1993).
	page number: 	p. 76
	url:		https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161388

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IMAGES