Vessel with Litter Group (600–1000): Art, History and Details

Vessel with Litter Group (600–1000) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The sculptural scene atop this vessel's chamber depicts four porters who carry a dignitary in a litter, a high-status mode of transport. Reportedly found at Wari Wilka, a highland water shrine, the vessel empties via a long channel that passes through the body of the dignitary.

Object facts

• Title: Vessel with Litter Group
• Date: 600–1000
• Culture: Central Andes, central highlands, reportedly Wari Wilka, Wari style, 6th-10th century
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: ceramic and slip
• Dimensions: Overall: 28 x 16 x 14 cm (11 x 6 5/16 x 5 1/2 in.)
• Collection: AA - Andes
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 2011.36

A detail from the museum

Litters were a mode of transportation reserved for people of high social status.

Collection credit

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Mann, C. Griffith, and Amy Bracken Sparks. "Acquisitions 2011." Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 52, no. 2 (March/April 2012): 10-27.

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.