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View at the museum ↗Ceremonial Grinding Table (Metate) in the Form of a Feline
Nicoya500–1000
- Attribution
- Nicoya Nicoya, Guanacaste province, Costa Rica
- Medium
- Volcanic stone
- Physical dimensions
- 41.3 × 34.9 × 86.4 cm (16 1/4 × 13 3/4 × 34 in.)
- Credit line
- Gift of Richard J. Faletti, the Faletti Family Collection
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Source rights statement: Public domain
View the museum record ↗From the museum
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