Container with Deity Head and Winged Attendants (600–1000 (Thermoluminescence date, 730–1190)): Art, History and Details

Container with Deity Head and Winged Attendants (600–1000 (Thermoluminescence date, 730–1190)) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The head of the staff deity, the most important supernatural being depicted in Wari art, appears on the ends of this container, the function of which is mysterious. The sides feature two of the deity's attendants, each with a wing and N-shaped fangs drawn from the animal world. One of these creatures carries a staff, a supreme symbol of divine authority and power.

Object facts

• Title: Container with Deity Head and Winged Attendants
• Date: 600–1000 (Thermoluminescence date, 730–1190)
• Culture: Central Andes, central coast, coastal Wari style
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: ceramic and slip
• Dimensions: Overall: 16.6 x 16.9 x 21.8 cm (6 9/16 x 6 5/8 x 8 9/16 in.)
• Collection: AA - Andes
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 1999.2

Collection credit

Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Cleveland Museum of Art, “Major Benin Bronze Plaque, Rembrandt Print, Other Works of Art Enter CMA Collection,” March 12, 1999, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
• 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.

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.