Cleveland Museum of Art

Feline Vessel

Date

1–700 CE

Medium

ceramic, red and white slips, black pigment

Culture

Central Andes, North Highlands, Recuay people

Department

Art of the Americas

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Recuay art is under-studied and it is difficult to know the meaning of the wonderfully stylized feline on whose head perches a small passenger that may be a coatimundi, a nosy, busy, racoon-like animal. Elsewhere in Recuay art, felines are shown as virile predators, making it likely that in general they were symbols of leadership. The feline is painted with white and red slips; after firing, a resist application of black pigment was used to create the dotted pattern.

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