dressy dresses

Working in richly tooled leather, Peru's Abel Rios crafts a dice cup and lid. Embossed on the cup and lid is the spider from the famous geoglyphs of the Nazca plains. The game set includes five dice.

Crafted by hand from ceramic, the iconic Aztec calendar makes a stunning addition to your tree during the holiday season. Artisans from the Angel Ceron Artisan Association design this set of four, accentuated by a brown finish that lends them an ancient aesthetic.

In Peru, huaco is the name given to all pottery artwork made in pre-Columbian times and found in different sites throughout the country. Ynocencio Ccahuana handcrafts and paints by hand this set of four ceramic mini vases that resemble the traditional huacos and that will be history lovers' favorite decorative accessories.

Aztec god of the rain, Tlaloc is depicted in this striking archaeological figurine from Mexico. Angel Ceron designs this addition to your home decor, crafted of ceramic. This depiction of Tlaloc, wearing traditional dress, is considered a rare occurrence.

Working in finely-detailed sterling silver, Nicte Migliozzi depicts a Maya dancer dressed in spotted skins. He represents the jaguar god who rules the underworld. Crafted by hand, the pendant centers a Venetian box chain necklace.

The image comes from a funeral urn discovered near Tikal, which is now in the Peabody Museum at Harvard University.

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.