Pre-Columbian - Ancient Pottery for Sale

Possibly first developed in Colombia or Ecuador, pottery succeeded baskets and gourds as containers in ancient times. Throughout the entire Pre-Columbian world, pottery became the most common surviving artifact. Both hand-modeled and molded pots and clay objects were made. Decoration involved incising designs, carving or molding reliefs, and employing various techniques of painting and polishing. Although polychromed ceramics were produced, most pottery was painted with one or two colors or left unpainted.

Unusual Cocle Painted Bowl From Panama, ca. 500 to 600 A.D., a most unusual and whimsical ancient Cocle jar. Decorated on each side with painted "mask" design in dark brown over white background - $995.00 SALE PENDING

Colima Pottery Dance Grouping An important and quite rare ancient ceremonial dance platform from the Colima region of west Mexico, ca. 100 B.C. to 100 A.D. Comprised of six standing figures in... $14,950.00

Choice Mayan Ulua Valley Pedestal Bowl Choice and quite lovely Mayan polychrome bowl, from the Ulua Valley of Honduras. Ca 550 to 9000 AD., flared bowl sitting on small flared base, decorated inside and out. $995.00

Paracas Pottery Bowl w/ Hand Print An outstanding ancient pottery bowl from the Paracas culture of south coastal Peru - ca 500 to 100 BC. Deep-black interior with exterior in dark brown; single human... $1,195.00

Important Carved Mayan Cylinder Fine and very important Mayan blackware cylinder from the Pacific slope of Guatemala. Ca 500 to 700 AD, this incredible large drinking vessel is decorated with two... $5,495.00

Pre-Columbian potters created many plain, functional pottery for common use, but they also formed elaborate and intricate art for religious use that required great skill to produce. They buried pottery with their dead to accompany them into the afterlife, thereby demonstrating the predominance of pottery in their culture and their skill at creating it to modern archeologists. In Pre-Columbian times, kilns were not used; pieces of pottery were fired in an open fire or a pit in the ground. Potters did not use any type of glaze, but they did burnish the surface of their pots with stones. Pots were decorated with gods, animals, plants, everyday scenes and geometric designs.