Drinking Cup
Unknown Artist
900–1519
Medium
pottery with burnished, colored slips
Dimensions
12.5 × 8.5 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
Art of the Americas
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Gruener
Accession Number
1990.212
About this artwork
After about the year 800, several Mixtec kingdoms developed in the regions known today as Oaxaca and Puebla in southern Mexico. Mixtec artists excelled in creating small-scale, fine works of art, including polychrome pottery. A Mixtec noble may have used this well-painted goblet to drink chocolate or pulque, a fermented beverage made from the sap of the maguey cactus.