Feline effigy jar
Life Story
The jaguar jar exemplifies the Manteno tradition of simple but powerful modelling. The jaguar theme recurs throughout Manteno art and in all media. It can be found in ceramic figurines from burials, where the dead was accompanied by all that would be needed in the afterlife: weapons food and drink, serving dishes, and even slaves. It also occurs on items designed for ceremonial or temple use, such as stone sculptures and thrones, and pottery incense burners (see UEA 778). The Spanish chroniclers quoted by Saville (1907) mention large towns with temples and shrines in which were idols in the form of many different gods, including jaguar images of clay, stone and wood.
Warwick Bray in Steven Hooper (ed.). Catalogue to the Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection. University of East Anglia, 1997.
Provenance
Purchased by the Sainsbury Centre, University of East Anglia from John Stokes, New York, on the advice of Robert Sainsbury in 1980 out of income from the Sainsbury Purchasing Fund.
On display
Title/Description: Feline effigy jar
Materials: Earthenware
Measurements: h. 267 x w.150 x d. 230 mm
Accession Number: 779
Historic Period: AD 800-1500
Production Place: Ecuador, South America, The Americas
Cultural Group: Manteño-Huancavilca
Credit Line: Purchased with support from Robert and Lisa Sainsbury, 1980
