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Source Description
This plate is carved with a feline supernatural sacrificer who holds a severed human head in its clawed paws. The diagonal clusters of plant foliage at the figure’s shoulders and hips imply that death is tied to the earth’s fertility, one being a precondition for the other. The figure, therefore, may be an apotheosis of the life-death cycle.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
441848
label
Plate with Supernatural Being
core
obj
dtoType
object
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
441848
contentType
object
title
Plate with Supernatural Being
description
This plate is carved with a feline supernatural sacrificer who holds a severed human head in its clawed paws. The diagonal clusters of plant foliage at the figure’s shoulders and hips imply that death is tied to the earth’s fertility, one being a precondition for the other. The figure, therefore, may be an apotheosis of the life-death cycle.
date
900–600 BCE
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q117246866
genreSpecific
Ceramic
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall: 4 x 16.4 cm (1 9/16 x 6 7/16 in.)
cul
Central Andes, north coast, probably Jequetepeque Valley, Cupisnique people
accession
2021.131
Source extras
tec
stone (probably steatite [soapstone])
tombstone
Plate with Supernatural Being, 900–600 BCE. Central Andes, north coast, probably Jequetepeque Valley, Cupisnique people. Stone (probably steatite [soapstone]); overall: 4 x 16.4 cm (1 9/16 x 6 7/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 2021.131
collection
AA - Andes
didYouKnow
The supernatural figure on this small plate may be an apotheosis of the life-death cycle.
citations
citation
Bergh, Susan E. "'The Art of Those Who Lived Here Before the White Man Came': Collecting the Ancient Americas at the Cleveland Museum of Art." In <em>Collecting the “Other Americas”: Ancient Americas Collections in American Art Museums, </em>edited by Victoria I. Lyall, and Ellen Hoobler, 67- 82. Denver, Colorado: Mayer Center for Ancient and Latin American Art at the Denver Art Museum, 2025.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 78, fig. 18
creditline
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 09:01:02.429000
sourceId
441848
dept
Art of the Americas
coll
AA - Andes
med
stone (probably steatite [soapstone])
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
ae335db3d56c96ea