Caddo Engraved Pottery Bowl with Tri-Lug Rim (Auction 2026-06-05, Lot 104)

$514.00

A low-walled earthenware bowl rising from a rounded base, crowned by three bulbous lug projections, hand-built in burnished brown clay and incised to form a curvilinear geometric ornament. Such engraved wares are a signature achievement of the Caddo peoples of the Trans-Mississippi South, whose villages and mound centers flourished across present-day Arkansas, Louisiana, eastern Texas, and Oklahoma. Vessels of this scale and refinement likely served in mortuary and feasting contexts, accompanying the dead or marking ceremonial exchange among the ranked lineages of the Caddoan world.

Provenance: private Colorado, USA Collection; ex-private Denver, Colorado, USA collection; ex-private Flushing, New York and Ridgeway, Colorado, USA collection

Condition: Damaged. Repaired from many pieces with visible breaklines and small gaps between pieces. Old inventory labels on the base and interior.