Feline Mortar and Pestle (700–1 BCE): Art, History and Details

Feline Mortar and Pestle (700–1 BCE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Size suggests that this Chavín-style mortar and pestle were not used to grind bulky staples like corn, but instead pigments or plant hallucinogens used in religious rites to achieve spiritual insight and communion with cosmic forces. This set may come from Pacopampa, a site in the northern highlands where elites adopted Chavín deities and worshiped them alongside local deities. These small sculptures illustrate the appeal and the spread of Chavín religion.

Object facts

• Title: Feline Mortar and Pestle
• Date: 700–1 BCE
• Culture: Peru, North Highlands, Pacopampa(?), Chavín style (900-200 BCE)
• Type: Stone
• Technique: stone, pigment
• Dimensions: Overall: 5.8 x 11 cm (2 5/16 x 4 5/16 in.)
• Collection: AA - Andes
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 1957.494

Collection credit

In memory of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Humphreys, gift of their daughter Helen

Further reading listed by the museum

• The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, March 1958.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991.

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.