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.

Michoacan Bowl with Rare Motif Very decorative and unusual polychrome bowl from the Michoacan region of Mexico, ca 200 BC to 400 AD. Redware vessel decorated with two standing bird figures, $795.00

Chimu Pottery Parrot Stirrup Vessel An excellent Chimu adaptation of an ancient Sican vessel, from Peru, ca. 1100 – 1300 A.D. In blackware pottery, this nicely-detailed bird is depicted holding an ear of maize... $795.00

Chimu / Inca Drum-Shaped Canteen Ancient Pre-Columbian Chimu-Inca Drum vessel from Peru, ca. 1300 – 1500 AD. Done in blackware pottery featuring two crisply-molded panels depicting a mythological... $795.00

Pre-Columbian Nazca Pottery Cup - Choice! Very sweet! Virtually perfect ancient Kero from the Nazca culture of southern Peru, ca 200 to 400 AD. Polychrome drinking cup decorated in white, red and black depicting... $795.00

Moche I Seated Figure, Inlaid Detailing Very rare and important ancient Pre-Columbian Moche I Stirrup Vessel, early example, ca 200 A.D. Depicting a seated lord or shaman, in burnished blackware pottery; $0.00 POR

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.