Unknown Central and South American
Cup Depicting the Decapitator Deity

CultureTiwanaku (Tiahuanaco)
Titles
  • Cup Depicting the Decapitator Deity
  • Cup
Date400–1100 AD
PlaceBolivia
PlaceChile
PlacePeru
MediumGold
Dimensions4 3/8 × 3 3/8 × 5 in. (11.2 × 8.6 × 12.7 cm)
Credit LineGift of Alfred C. Glassell, Jr.
Object number2004.2536
Current Location
The Caroline Wiess Law Building
212M Jones Galleries
On view

Explore Further

Object Type
ProvenancePossibly private collection, by 1968 [1]; [Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York] [2]; [private European collection] [2]; [Sotheby's, New York, May 17, 1993, Pre-Columbian Sale 6420, Lot 38] [2]; purchased by Alfred C. Glassell, Jr. (1913–2008), Houston, May 17, 1993–2004 [3] [4]; given to MFAH, 2004.
[1] Allen Wardwell, The Gold of Ancient America (Greenwich, CT: New York Graphic Society, 1968), 28, fig. 2. Listed as private collection and not part of the exhibition.
[2] Sotheby’s New York catalog, May 17, 1993.
[3] Glassell Inventory, inventory number precedes object coming from the same sale, described on May 19, 1993.
[4] Glassell Photo Album #12.
Exhibition History"Tiwanaku: Ancestors of the Inca," Denver Art Museum, October 16, 2004–January 23, 2005.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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