Backrest of a Litter (1185–1275 (radiocarbon date, 95.4% probability)): Art, History and Details

Backrest of a Litter (1185–1275 (radiocarbon date, 95.4% probability)) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

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.

Object facts

• Title: Backrest of a Litter
• Date: 1185–1275 (radiocarbon date, 95.4% probability)
• Culture: Central Andes, North Coast, Chimú people, late Intermediate period
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: mixed media: wood, gold alloy, pigment, shell inlay
• Dimensions: Overall: 60.4 x 95 cm (23 3/4 x 37 3/8 in.)
• Collection: AA - Andes
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 1952.233

A detail from the museum

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

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• "Art and Archaeology at the Cleveland Museum of Art." Archaeology 6, no. 4 (1953)
• Bennett, Wendell Clark. Ancient Arts of the Andes. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1954.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.