Ceremonial Grinding Table (Metate) in the Form of a Feline
Nicoya (Nicoya, Guanacaste province, Costa Rica)
500–1000
- Medium
- Volcanic stone
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Dimensions
- 41.3 × 34.9 × 86.4 cm (16 1/4 × 13 3/4 × 34 in.)
- Culture
- Nicoya
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of the Americas
- Credit line
- Gift of Richard J. Faletti, the Faletti Family Collection
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Little Ones profiles and older: it shows gentle subjects for the very young. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
In Central America, Mexico, and the southwestern United States, flat stone grinders (metates) were used to prepare cornmeal and corn dough for cooking. Sculptors in ancient Costa Rica developed elaborate metate forms as symbols of sustenance; large, finely carved examples often feature effigies as emblems of a ruler or religious official. Metates have been discovered in burials, where they served as biers for deceased leaders, but they were probably primarily intended as throne-like seats for chieftains, thereby linking rulers’ political power to their obligation to ensure abundant harvests to sustain their communities.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
