Pre-Columbian - Pottery

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.

Jamacoaque Seated Figure Ancient Pre-Columbian Seated Male, Jamacoque culture, ca. 500-1000 A.D.. Hollow pottery figure holds a lidded box on his lap and wearing a headdress with long side lappets and... $325.00

Jaina Figural Lord Whistle Very stern-looking Mayan lord forms the basis for this ancient pottery whistle. From the Jaina Island, off the coast of Yucatan, Mexico, dating between 400 and 600 A.D. $495.00

Inca Pottery Offerendo w/ People Created in the period between 1300 - 1500 A.D., during the height of the ancient Inca Empire. The most conclusive dating of these objects came from a cache found in... $2,195.00

Costa Rican Jade Bead Necklace Necklace comprised of 55 ancient beads -- 5 jade beads and 50 pottery beads -- in various forms and colors ranging from light green to white to gray. From Costa Rica, dating... $275.00

Jalisco Redware Bowl Ancient pottery bowl from western Mexico, probably the Jalisco area, dating between 200-500 A.D. Redware decorated on inside with four series of six vertical... $195.00

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.