**First Time At Auction**

Pre-Columbian, Costa Rica, Atlantic Watershed, ca. 800 to 1200 CE. A jaguar metate, hand-carved from a single piece of volcanic stone with delightful details. Three (four when originally made) jaguar heads project from the sides, which are depicted as smiling - or snarling - animals with rounded ears and wide eyes. The largest and most prominent has a stylized weaving pattern on the head. The joined bodies of the animals form two long legs on either side of the metate, which has a high, steep rim. A piece like this would have been used to grind hallucinogenic substances or medicines for ceremonial rituals. Size: 7.55" L x 6.85" W x 3.2" H (19.2 cm x 17.4 cm x 8.1 cm)

Metate technology developed initially for the utilitarian purpose of grinding corn; however, they evolved into meaningful ritual objects, replete with strong iconography and intriguing sculptural forms. Examples of a larger scale but similar degree of decorative carving and iconographic symbolism were sometimes used to seat a departed lord on his journey to the afterlife. Jaguar imagery symbolized power and might throughout the Pre-Columbian world; hence, warriors, rulers, hunters, and shamans alike associated themselves with this king of beasts, the largest and most powerful feline in the New World.

Provenance: collection of the late Alfred E. Stendahl, Stendahl Gallery, Los Angeles, California, USA

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#126371

Loss to edge from two sides as shown, with one jaguar head lost.