2-740-492 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Shell with Inlaid Feline, 100 BC-700. This ornament is made of a spondylus shell, from which the exterior surface has been carved away to reveal a layer of bright orange. The pampas cat inlaid on the surface in multicoloured shell and stone has bean-shaped spots on his body, and grasps a gold gourd or fruit. In both Paracas and Nasca art, the small, non-domesticated pampas cat is strongly associated with beans and other crops. Perhaps it was thought to guard the fields from rodents and other pests.