# Ceremonial Grinding Table (Metate) in the Form of a Feline

- By: Nicoya (Nicoya, Guanacaste province, Costa Rica)
- Date: 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
- Credit line: Gift of Richard J. Faletti, the Faletti Family Collection
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/146939)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/9ff92517-5be6-c4f8-db1b-a3f37fcbbb66/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Little Ones profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

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