Bird-Shaped Container (500–900): Art, History and Details
Bird-Shaped Container at the Cleveland Museum of Art: 500–900, wood. Explore the work's context, creator attribution and collection history.
Bird-Shaped Container (500–900) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.
The work and its context
The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:
Peruvian Indians today regard coca leaf as a sacred substance that creates communion with deities. The leaves are chewed with powdered lime that in antiquity was stored in containers and scooped with spatulas like those seen here. Aside from its ritual meaning, coca has practical benefits: it is vitamin-rich and, like coffee, induces clear-headedness. The lizard spatula is Nasca; the other two are Wari.
Object facts
- Title: Bird-Shaped Container
- Date: 500–900
- Culture: Peru, Wari style (500-900)
- Type: Sculpture
- Technique: wood
- Dimensions: Overall: 8.4 cm (3 5/16 in.)
- Collection: AA - Andes
- Department: Art of the Americas
- Accession number: 1989.66
Collection credit
Edwin R. and Harriet Pelton Perkins Memorial Fund
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.
Sources
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