Images(5)

Metate

Artist Unknown

Datecirca 500–800

MediumCeramic

DimensionsH. 7 1/8 x L. 19 1/8 x W. 10 in. (18.1 x 48.6 x 25.4 cm)

ClassificationsCeramics

Credit LineGift of Dr. Clifton F. Mountain and Mrs. Marilyn T. Mountain

Object number96.4.121

On View

On view

Label TextGround stone tools, like metates and manos, are used for processing maize, cacao, and other grains. Mesoamericans discovered how to process the beans of the semisacred plant Theobroma cacao into drinking chocolate by grinding the seeds into a powder and mixing it with water and flavoring substances. The production of food was at the heart of economic power, so both this metate and the female figurine using a metate were markers of political status. Metates may have also served as symbolic thrones.

Ethnohistoric sources show that chocolate, which was later exported to Europe, made a significant impression on the first Spaniards in Mesoamerican land.
[Á. González, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," 2022]Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–present. Object Rights Statement

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