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Lime Container (Poporo), 5th–10th century; Quimbaya
Colombia, Cauca River Valley (?)
Cast gold; H. 9 in. (22.9 cm)
Jan Mitchell and Sons Collection, Gift of Jan Mitchell, 1991 (1991.419.22)
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Description
From Precolumbian times to our own, gold has been treasured for its beauty and valued as a commodity. When the conquistadors arrived in the New World in the sixteenth century, they melted down virtually all the gold they could find for hard currency. Today, only a tiny percentage of the gold objects created in the ancient New World remain. Most of them survived because of the common custom of burying objects with the dead. Unearthed centuries later, they dazzle us with their beauty and offer us glimpses into cultures that flourished long before the arrival of Columbus.
This gold flask still contains lime, a remnant of the coca ritual. Coca leaves were chewed with a small bit of powdered lime, which helped release the hallucinogens in the coca. The ritual had its particular paraphernalia: a sack to hold the leaves, a container to hold the lime, and a ladle to scoop the lime out. The Quimbaya region is noted for its ornamental containers made of cast gold, like the wonderful example we see here. On the flask is a standing figure, wearing only a cluster of earrings, with double-stranded bands across the forehead and around the neck, wrists, knees, and ankles.
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