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Lime Container

Culture Wari
Culture Tiwanaku
Title Lime Container
Date 600–1000
Medium Wood, stone, shell, bone, and and reed
Dimensions Object: 3 1/4 × 2 × 2 1/8 in. (8.3 × 5.1 × 5.4 cm)
Overall (includes mount): 3 5/8 × 2 1/4 × 2 1/4 in. (9.2 × 5.7 × 5.7 cm)
Credit Line Raymond and Laura Wielgus Collection, Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University
Accession Number 2010.50

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About this Work

This intricately made container was part of the paraphernalia used in the chewing of coca, a practice that has continued in South America for thousands of years. Several accoutrements were associated with coca chewing, and the precious materials and skillful manufacture of many of those that survive support the belief that it was an elite practice, reserved for sacrificial occasions and divinations. Powdered lime, chewed with the coca leaves to release the cocaine alkaloids, was kept in small containers such as this and dispensed with tiny spatulas or spoons. This relatively large example is an unusual combination of a shell in the back with a carved wooden front; however, what makes the container so remarkable is the masterful shell and stone inlay.


Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.

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"Lime Container | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2024. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=2010.50