CC0 · no rights reserved
Cup with Four Faces
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
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.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineCup 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
