Beaker with Frontal Figures (900–1100): Art, History and Details

Beaker with Frontal Figures (900–1100) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This beaker was created by an artist of the Lambayeque culture of Peru's north coast. It features a figure with comma-shaped eyes holding staffs, symbols of authority. If such beakers were used in life—that is, not created exclusively for the lavish tombs in which they have been found in quantities—they may have figured in feasting events that were central to late pre-Hispanic political, social, and religious life.

Object facts

• Title: Beaker with Frontal Figures
• Date: 900–1100
• Culture: Central Andes (Peru), Lambayeque (Sicán) people, 10th century-12th century
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: gold, hammered
• Dimensions: Overall: 12.5 x 9.1 cm (4 15/16 x 3 9/16 in.)
• Collection: AA - Andes
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 2015.7

A detail from the museum

Gold beakers like this one were indicators of high status.

Collection credit

Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund

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.