Cleveland Museum of Art

Dipper

Date

100 BCE–700 CE

Medium

ceramic, slip

Culture

Peru, North Highlands, Recuay

Department

Art of the Americas

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Both of these objects feature a creature known as the "Recuay feline," although it could also refer to a fox, dog, or viscacha (a rodent). Whatever its identity, the prominent crest on its head ties it to the supernatural realm, a connection underlined by the deity head that also appears on the dipper and by the ritual function of snuff tablets, which were used to inhale hallucinogenic snuffs during religious ceremonies.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.