Shell with Inlaid Feline (100 BCE–700 CE): Art, History and Details

Shell with Inlaid Feline (100 BCE–700 CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This ornament is made of a spondylus shell, from which the exterior surface has been carved away to reveal a layer of bright orange. The pampas cat inlaid on the surface in multicolored shell and stone has bean-shaped spots on his body, and grasps a gold gourd or fruit. In both Paracas and Nasca art, the small, non-domesticated pampas cat is strongly associated with beans and other crops. Perhaps it was thought to guard the fields from rodents and other pests.

Object facts

• Title: Shell with Inlaid Feline
• Date: 100 BCE–700 CE
• Culture: Peru, South Coast, Nasca
• Type: Jewelry
• Technique: Spondylus shell with shell, stone, and gold inlay
• Dimensions: Overall: 7.5 x 7.4 cm (2 15/16 x 2 15/16 in.)
• Collection: AA - Andes
• Department: Art of the Americas
• Accession number: 1950.567

Collection credit

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

Further reading listed by the museum

• Richardson, James B. People of the Andes. Montreal: St. Remy Press, 1994.
• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and Frances Marzio. Miniature Size, Magical Quality: Nasca Art from the Glassell Collection. Houston: Museum of Fine Arts, 2007.
• Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.

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.