pre hispanic art

This beautiful retablo depicts a lively market stall where Andean textiles are bought and sold. In pre-Hispanic times, Inca weavings were more highly prized than gold and Peruvian textiles carry on the artistic tradition. By Julio Gallardo, the vignette shows colorful cloth hanging from ceiling and walls, shoppers, and a young artisan who puts the finishing touches on a work he has finished. The ceramic figurines are housed in a tornillo wood box, crafted and painted by hand.

Evoking beasts of ancient myths, this traditional alebrije sculpture from Mexico is created by Teresita Gonzalez. Hand-carved from copal wood, a majestic bull rears its head, featuring a hand-painted design with intricate motifs inspired by pre-Hispanic Nahua cultures. Curiously, the bull features a human face, complete with an elaborate mustache made from agave fibers. Small parts are separated for shipping to protect from breakage.

A Maya woman sits with legs crossed as she works on a backstrap loom. Rocking back and forth she controls the tension as she creates an expanse of cloth. "This movement represented the human heartbeat, thus weaving was a sacred act for the ancient Maya, and weavers were considered the 'mothers of creation,'" Nicolas Chavez Sojuel explains. He works in fragrant cedar wood to depict his subject as realistically as did the pre-Hispanic ceramists of Jaina Island more than a thousand years ago in their "Female Figure with Loom." Deftly carving intricate details with superb realism, the Guatemalan artisan dresses the woman in a necklace of pinewood beads.

Mexico's pre-Hispanic cultures honored their dead through celebrations and commemorations; after the arrival of the Spaniards, these cultural traditions became fused with the Catholic church's rituals and holidays, notably All Souls' Day in November which is now commonly known as the Day of the Dead. Influenced by these ancestral customs, artisans have been creating handicrafts using skull imagery for centuries. Jesus and Roxana Hernandez of the Mexican state of Oaxaca present this eye-catching skull-shaped home decor piece carved by hand from copal wood. Against a yellow base color, black lines are drawn to simulate a scaly texture, then the skull is further hand decorated with patches of geometric patterns on the top and sides in red, green, and pink. The dark eye sockets and nasal cavities are outlined in blue and green. Two rows of pearly white teeth complete the colorful cranium.