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Ceramic Pottery Vase Mayan, Round Animal
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Ceramic Pottery Vase Mayan, Round Animal
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This Pre-Columbian Ceramic Vase has been created from clays found in the mountains surrounding their village in Costa Rica by husband and wife artists Luciano Grijalba Villafuerte and Kati Grijalba Grijalba. Displaying the familiar earthen red and orange colors of Mayan ceramics as well as an anthropomorphic animal whose figure circles the pot in a repeating pattern, the light colored animal stands out from the black background of the pot. Three Mayan patterned borders circle the vase and frame the animal pattern, and both the animal and the decorative elements are etched, highlighting the patterns to enhance their indigenous origins.
Luciano and Kati belong to the Chorotega tribe, who have survived for hundreds of years in the Costa Rican region by farming and creating ceramic pots. Luciano and Kati specialize in ancient Mayan themes using the classic Mayan imagery of anthropomorphic animals and Mayan decorative borders. They have four children and support their family with their ceramic arts. Women were the traditional potters of the Chorotegas and Luciano learned his craft from his mother who passed down the secrets of this ancient art to her son. In the same way, all four of their children have learned the ceramic art from their parents, just as their ancestors taught them. The Chorotega tribe have lived in Central America for many centuries and were known to have coexisted with the dominant Mayan Culture which lived to the North of what is now Costa Rica. The Chorotega were important trading partners with the many tribes of the region and established many trade routes throughout the Mayan Civilization. Although they also traded food and goods, they were famous for their ceramic arts. Modern day Chorotega tribal members live in two neighboring villages in the forest of Costa Rica, and there is a fierce but friendly rivalry between the two villages as they compete to create the best ceramics. Preserving Cultural Heritage The Chorotega ceramists don't use a traditional potters wheel, which makes the smooth and even surface of their pots even more extraordinary. The clay is gathered from three mountains near their village and pounded and ground with a large mortar and pestle. Water is added to the clay and the entire family participates in kneading the clay with their feet, turning the clay into a workable medium. After forming the clay into a long braid, the artist coils the braid around and around, building up height and smoothing out the ridges carefully by hand while they rotate the pot very slowly on a hand made turn. Tools are used to give the piece form - a piece of wood or a guitar pick - and then the wet pot is dried in the sun for several days. The paint that the Chorotega use are made from various rocks and minerals found in local rivers, which are ground to a fine powder and then mixed to get the various earth tones used to paint each piece. Because the Chorotega are famous for their ceramics, most Chorotega have a wood burning kiln in their backyard in which the pieces are fired in a hot fire for 4-6 hours and then left to cool for 12 hours more. Nothing is brought in from outside of the community which makes each piece unique and authentic - using the same local clays, natural paints and firing techniques that their Mayan Ancestors used so many centuries ago. Note: this ceramic does not hold water. Weight: 11.5 lbs. 
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