Lot 76

Caddo Pottery Bottle - Engraved Crosshatch Globular Vessel

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Lot 76
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Caddo Pottery Bottle - Engraved Crosshatch Globular Vessel
Caddo Pottery Bottle - Engraved Crosshatch Globular Vessel
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Caddo Pottery Bottle - Engraved Crosshatch Globular Vessel

Estimate: $600 - $900

Starting Bid: $250

(0 Bids)
by Artemis Fine Arts
August 7, 2026 9:00 AM MDT
Live Auction
686 S. Taylor Avenue
Suite 108
Louisville, CO, US 80027

Native American, Caddo, ca. 1200–1500 CE. A long-necked ceramic bottle swelling into a near-spherical body, its dark burnished surface mottled with the silvery bloom of subterranean burial. Around the shoulder runs a band of fine engraved chevrons and parallel arcs, while the lower body carries vertical panels filled with delicate crosshatched lattices, the incised lines catching pale residue that throws the geometry into relief. The high, flaring rim crowns a slender neck rising from rounded shoulders. Such bottles, fashioned by the Caddo peoples of the lower Mississippi valley and the Trans-Mississippi South, served as containers for liquids and likely accompanied the dead as mortuary offerings. The patient compass-drawn engraving, executed on leather-hard clay before firing, reflects a refined ceramic tradition whose precision and elegance distinguish Caddo wares among the pottery of the American Southeast. Size: 5.8" D x 7.9" H (14.7 cm D x 20.1 cm H).

The Caddo Mississippian tradition flourished across what is now eastern Texas, western Louisiana, southwestern Arkansas, and southeastern Oklahoma. Their engraved bottles, decorated after the vessel had dried to a leather-hard state, are prized for the controlled curvilinear and rectilinear motifs (scrolls, chevrons, and crosshatched fields) that recur across the ceramic corpus. Many surviving examples were recovered from burial contexts, where fine engraved wares were placed as grave goods, signaling both the deceased's status and the community's investment in the afterlife. The white pigment frequently found within the engraved lines was a deliberate enhancement, rubbed into the channels to heighten the contrast against the dark, smoke-fired ground.

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

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Item # 203162

  • Condition: Repaired with some chipping and small losses along visible break lines. Abrasions to spout and scattered throughout body, but, otherwise, nice presentation with good remains of etched detail.

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Bid Increments
From: To: Increments:
$0 $299 $25
$300 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 $199,999 $10,000
$200,000 + $20,000