https://search.smb.museum/object/obj-4826

I fucking love this. It’s so cute but also so menacing with its teeth and red eyes. I wonder what animal it represents. Puma? Some small wild cat? If it was a jaguar I feel like the spots would have survived if it ever had any. Why does it have a bird on its head? Is it related to mythology and folktales or pure whimsy? They must have had people making whimsical nonsense back then, too.

I was unable to find any details beyond the images I posted. I wish I knew more as well. I freakin' love the fangs and the little tail wrapping around the back.

It's the Cheshire Cat, obviously.

The client needs a vessel that is largely practical but mostly to give his kids cat based nightmares.

This is the third recent post that reminds me of famous characters. I'm convinced artists are stealing ancient art for inspiration.

There was some caveman painting on the cave's wall thinking "all art is derivative. How can Grog create, when nothing new under sun."

A lot of modern art is based on art from indigenous cultures. In fact all cultural development is taking what is already there, doing a little remix and maybe adding a few new aspects.

I did a brief search of Artstor and the best I can do is ‘probably Moche or Wari/Huari culture’ since both have similar looking cat ceramics, with an open mouth and bared fangs. Based on the reported location Wari is probably the safer bet. I’ll see if I can dig up anything more later.

Recuay culture! Other examples:
https://www.google.com/search?q=Recuay+culture+artifacts%2C+Peru&udm=2

I would like two of these, tyvm. Please gift wrap one.

Paracas Culture is another option I found (though it several hundred years earlier):
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/313340

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search?artist=Paracas+artist(s)

That might be it!
https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/the-art-of-the-recuay

Ooh, it does have a similar design. Maybe this was an old, widespread motif at the time? Because looking at the geographic range for Paracas culture it looks like it doesn’t overlap with the area it was found (hard to tell on the wiki maps). But people move around, it could be someone from the Paracas culture moved a little further inland and passed down that style of pottery.

Thank you so much for posting this. I've been trying to maintain some of these "history" sub-pies since the founder retired, so it's brilliant to see someone else contributing and helpful.

As the Americans say: *fist bump*!

I used to post a fair amount here when Pug kept the community filled up, but after their departure, I slowed down. I should pick that back up, because it is such a neat topic.

Nice.

Me, I've turned on notifications for these, which are also the major three I try to keep afloat: (at least one post per week, anyway)

!historyart@piefed.social
!historyartifacts@piefed.social
!historyphotos@piefed.social

Hear me out:

Did pre-Columbian Peruvians have cats? I didn't think they had domesticated cats until after, so maybe it's based on a wild cat?

Its well done but also goofy, I like it. Id love to be able to interview the artist and ask what vibe they were going for. Just normal artistic expression? Scary? Deliberately silly?

Definitely based on a wild cat. There are lots of cats native to South America. Maybe an Andean Mountain Cat

NSFW: They had some pretty wild stuff:

That one is clearly not from Peru. It's obviously from Cheshire...

Not a dog?

Must have the same plastic surgeon as Dell.