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Plate with Supernatural Being

900–600 BCE
stone (probably steatite [soapstone])
Overall: 4 x 16.4 cm (1 9/16 x 6 7/16 in.)
Weight: 0.48 kg / 1.05 lb
J.H. Wade Trust Fund 2021.131
Location: 232 Andean
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Did You Know?

The supernatural figure on this small plate may be an apotheosis of the life-death cycle.

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.
Plate with Supernatural Being

Plate with Supernatural Being

900–600 BCE

Central Andes, north coast, probably Jequetepeque Valley, Cupisnique people

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