Wine Cup (Linnak)

ClassificationsFurnishings-Serviceware-drinking vessels

Culture Paiwan

Date20th Century

Made AtTaiwan, Asia

MediumWood

Dimensions2 × 28 × 4 1/2 in. (5.1 × 71.1 × 11.4 cm)

Credit LineGift of Anne and Long Shung Shih

Object number2017.11.26

DescriptionThis ceremonial wine cup or linnak (literally twin cup) was used by the indigenous Paiwan people of southern Taiwan. The double cup was brought out on a number of occasions, always to cement the relationship between the two sharing a drink from a linnak’s bowls. Perhaps the most common of these usages was sharing rice wine between newly wedded husbands and wives. Goods decorated with carvings were generally reserved for the wealthiest families. A disembodied head was a common figure in Paiwan carving. It could represent either an ancestor or reference the practice of headhunting carried out by the Paiwan up until the 19th Century.

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