This vessel is an excellent example of the skilled art pottery made by the artisans of San Juan de Oriente, Nicaragua. These vessels strongly illustrate the Mestizo (mixed European and indigenous) heritage of the region; the vessels are made using traditional terra cotta clays, but formed using the imported Spanish method of throwing the vessel on a potter’s wheel.  The vessels are then decorated using traditional colored clay slips rather than European-style glazes, and they use indigenous carving and burnishing methods.  This vessel is further embellished with a rough, pecked-away sgraffito background that has become popular in the late 20^th and 21^st century among Latin American artisans.  Researched by Katelynn McGuire

For more information, you may contact the researcher(s) noted in the title of this exhibit entry, or Dr. Billie Follensbee, the professor of the course, at BillieFollensbee@MissouriState.edu