Donkey Chia Pet: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Introduced in 1977, Chia Pet is the trade name for a brand of novelty terracotta planters in the form of figurines. Chia Pets have come in many designs, including animals and characters from popular culture. Chia sprouts are grown on the planter in select areas to resemble features such as hair or fur.

This Chia Pet depicts "Donkey" from the DreamWorks Animation film series. Inspired by William Steig's 1990 children's book, the first Shrek film was released in 2001 with comedian Eddie Murphy voicing Donkey.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date made: 2004
• curatorial division: Music, Sports, and Entertainment
• maker: Dream Works
• maker: Joseph Enterprises, Inc.
• Object Name: Planter w/ Box
• Measurements: overall: 7 1/4 in x 8 1/8 in x 4 3/8 in; 18.415 cm x 20.6375 cm x 11.1125 cm
• ID Number: 2005.3116.06
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.