id:			361651
accession number:	2019.169
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/2019.169
updated:		2022-08-06 09:00:51.574000

Cup with Four Faces, 600–1000. Central Andes, Wari people. Stone with shell inlay; overall: 9.5 x 9.2 cm (3 3/4 x 3 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2019.169

title:				Cup with Four Faces
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			600–1000
creation date earliest:		600
creation date latest:		1000
current location:		232 Andean
creditline:			Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund
copyright:			

---

culture:	Central Andes, Wari people
technique:	Stone with shell inlay
department:	Art of the Americas
collection:	AA - Andes
type:		Stone
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

---

CREATORS

---

measurements: Overall: 9.5 x 9.2 cm (3 3/4 x 3 5/8 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

---

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

---

LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

---

PROVENANCE

	(Probably André Emmerich, Inc.)
	date: Before 1969
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	Mr. and Mrs. Robert Spitzer, New York City
	date: Before 1969
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	Sotheby’s New York, Auction (November 18, lot 13A)
	date: 1991
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	Merrin Gallery, New York, NY
	date: 1991
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	American Private Collector
	date: 1991-2019
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
	date: 2019-
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


---

fun fact: 
The inlay is made of spondylus (thorny oyster) shell, a form of wealth in antiquity.

digital description: 
The identity of the four, wide-eyed faces on this cup is unknown. Equally mysterious is the cup’s function. It seems too small to be used for drinking beer at the feasts the Wari sponsored to put others in their debt. The size may suggest the cup was used in more intimate circumstances, perhaps to make libations to sacred forces that animated the ancient landscape.

wall description: 

---

RELATED WORKS

---

CITATIONS

	Museum of Primitive Art (New York, N.Y.). <em>Precolumbian Art in New York; Selections from Private Collections.</em> [New York]: Distributed by New York Graphic Society, Greenwich, Conn, 1969.
	page number: 	Cat. 263
	url:		

	Lapiner, Alan C. <em>Pre-Columbian Art of South America. </em>New York: H.N. Abrams, 1976.
	page number: 	fig. 577-578
	url:		

	Sotheby's (Firm). <em>Pre Columbian Art</em>. 1991.
	page number: 	Lot 13A
	url:		

	Bergh, Susan E.  “Acquisitions 2019: Pre-Columbian and Native North American Art.” <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine </em>60, no. 2 (March/April 2020): 14-15.
	page number: 	Reproduced and Mentioned: P. 14.
	url:		

---

IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2019.169/2019.169_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2019.169/2019.169_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2019.169/2019.169_full.tif