仪式金属 - 美国大都会艺术博物馆展品查阅

品名（中）	仪式金属
品名（英）	Ceremonial Metate
入馆年号	1979年，1979.206.429
策展部门	迈克尔·洛克菲勒之翼（The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing）
创作者
创作年份	公元 300 - 公元 800
创作地区	哥斯达黎加（Costa Rica）
分类	石头工具（Stone-Implements）
尺寸	高 12 × 宽 10 × 深 18 英寸 (30.5 × 25.4 × 45.7 厘米)
介绍（中）	即使在今天，美洲的石材也被用来研磨玉米和其他食品。某些古老的仪式必须包含这种活动，并需要为此目的创建特殊的metate。这种金属的装饰质量暗示了仪式功能。这件物品用火山石雕刻而成，边缘凹凸不平，三脚架腿上覆盖着几何浮雕和镂空，一端是抽象的鸟头图案，也许是一只鹦鹉。该装饰品可能与该物品的所有者或使用metate的仪式有关。它作为研磨玉米的表面的功能，玉米是其来源地区的主食，将这个雕塑与肥力的概念联系起来，这是农业人民的主要关注点。有人认为，鉴于其仪式重要性，仪式上的metate也可能是统治者的宝座，对统治者来说，保证他的土地和人民的肥沃将是最重要的。
介绍（英）	Even today, stone metates in the Americas are used to grind maize and other foodstuffs. Certain ancient rituals must have incorporated this activity and required special metates to be created for this purpose. The decorative quality of this metate suggests a ceremonial function. Carved in volcanic stone, this object bears a fretted edge, tripod legs covered with geometric relief and cut-outs, and, at one end, an abstract bird's-head motif, perhaps a parrot. The ornament may be related to the owner of this object or to the ritual in which the metate was used. Its function as a surface for grinding maize, a staple food of the region from which it comes, links this sculpture with the notion of fertility, a primary concern for an agricultural people. It has been suggested that the ceremonial metate, given its ritual importance, may have also served as a throne for the ruler, for whom the assurance of the fertility of his land and people would have been paramount.