Lime Dipper or Pin with Owl (1–800 CE): Art, History and Details

Lime Dipper or Pin with Owl (1–800 CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

An engaging miniature owl forms the finial of this dipper, which was used during coca-chewing rituals. Typically, coca leaves were chewed into a quid; then, with a dipper, lime made from powdered seashells was added to the quid to enhance the leaves' gentle stimulating effects. Contemporary natives regard coca as crucial to creating both social camaraderie and communion with supernatural forces; the same may have been true in the past.

Object facts

• Title: Lime Dipper or Pin with Owl
• Date: 1–800 CE
• Culture: Isthmian Region (Colombia), Calima, Yotoco period
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: gold, cast
• Dimensions: Overall: 22.4 x 2 x 1.6 cm (8 13/16 x 13/16 x 5/8 in.)
• Collection: AA - Intermediate Region
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 2015.10

A detail from the museum

Chewing coca leaves remains popular among indigenous communities in the Andean region.

Collection credit

Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase 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.