The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of September 9, 2026

A yellow-orange ceramic vessel features a rounded body and two vertical spouts joined by a curved bridge handle. On the body, a stylized creature and a large, abstract face with wide-set eyes are painted in red, black, and gray resin. Crescent shapes and small dots fill the remaining space. Deep red color covers the handle, spouts, and base, with slight wear visible across the vessel's surface.

Vessel with Feline

700 BCE–1 CE

Peru, South Coast, Paracas

(Cavernas) style (700 BCE–1 CE)
earthenware, resin-based paint
Diameter: 14.2 cm (5 9/16 in.); Overall: 11.3 cm (4 7/16 in.)
Gift of John Wise 1948.477
Location: 232 Andean

Did You Know?

Small, wild, reclusive felines, pampas cats live on the margins of agricultural fields, where they prey on rodents and other pests that are a farmer’s bane

Description

Little is known of the meaning of the beautifully abstracted felines so often incised on Paracas ceramics. The designs achieve much of their complexity through color applied as resin-based paint after the vessel was fired in a smoky atmosphere that blackened its surface. Two spouts joined by a bridge appear on many fine South Coast ceramics. The form probably had meaning, now lost.
  • Treasures of Peruvian Gold. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 23-April 3, 1966).
    Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art; February 23-April 3, 1966. "Treasures of Peruvian Gold."
    Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art: March 17-April 10 1949. "Art, A Means to World Understanding."
  • {{cite web|title=Vessel with Feline|url=false|author=|year=700 BCE–1 CE|access-date=09 September 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1948.477