The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Figure in a Litter

Figure in a Litter

500–900 (Thermoluminescence date, 590–1090)
(Pachacamac)
earthenware with colored slips
Overall: 26.3 x 21.6 x 24.8 cm (10 3/8 x 8 1/2 x 9 3/4 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1997.1
Location: 232 Andean

Description

Whether a deity, ancestral mummy, or masked human, this figure signals power. The divided eyes and fangs are traits of supernatural beings. The hands are cupped around holes that once perhaps held staffs, symbols of human and divine authority. And the litter was a mode of travel reserved for those of high station; the knobs refer to poles that rested on the shoulders of human bearers.
  • Spielvogel, Rosaling Brueck. War: A Study in Tiahuanaco Style. vol. 1. (New Haven, CT: Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School, Yale University, 1951.)
    Sawyer, Alan R. Mastercraftsmen of Ancient Peru. [New York]: [Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation], 1968. cat. no. 500
    Lavalle, José Antonio de, and Werner Lang. Culturas precolombinas: Huari : Colección Arte y tresoros del Peru. Lima: Banco de Crédito del Peru en la Cultura, 1984.
    Cleveland Museum of Art, “Major Neoclassical Marble, Rare Korean Sculpture, Other Recent CMA Acquisitions Now on View,” April 16, 1997, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
    Annual Report, 1997. (Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998). pp. 31, 43
    May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. pp. 100, 220
    Young-Sánchez, Margaret. Tiwanaku: Ancestors of the Inca. Denver, CO: Denver Art Museum, 2004. cat. no. 6.3, p.155
    "On and Off the Wall." The Denver Art Museum Members Magazine (September/October, 2004). cover
    Bergh, Susan E., Luis Guillermo Lumbreras, and Luis Jaime Castillo. Wari: Lords of the Ancient Andes. [New York]: Thames & Hudson; [Cleveland] : The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. Mentioned: p. 269, cat.35; Reproduced: p. 34, fig. 20
  • Wari: Lords of the Ancient Andes. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 28, 2012-January 6, 2013); Ft. Lauderdale Museum of Art (February 10-May 19, 2013); Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, TX (June 16-September 8, 2013).
    Tiwanaku: Ancestors of the Inca. Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO (organizer) (October 16, 2004-January 23, 2005).
    Mastercraftsmen of Ancient Peru, The Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY (October 19, 1968 - January 11, 1969).
  • {{cite web|title=Figure in a Litter|url=false|author=|year=500–900 (Thermoluminescence date, 590–1090)|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1997.1