Lot 58

Mississippian Pottery Bottle - Globular Long-Neck Vessel

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Lot 58
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Mississippian Pottery Bottle - Globular Long-Neck Vessel
Mississippian Pottery Bottle - Globular Long-Neck Vessel
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Mississippian Pottery Bottle - Globular Long-Neck Vessel

Estimate: $800 - $1,200

Starting Bid: $350

(0 Bids)
by Artemis Fine Arts
August 6, 2026 9:00 AM MDT
Live Auction
686 S. Taylor Avenue
Suite 108
Louisville, CO, US 80027

Native American, Mississippian culture, ca. 1000–1500 CE. A swelling globular body rises to a tall, slender neck and flared rim in this earthenware bottle, its surface a mottled landscape of grey, smoky charcoal, and warm tan from open firing. The shell-tempered clay carries the soft burnish and fire clouds characteristic of Mississippian potters of the central and lower Mississippi Valley, who shaped such vessels by hand without the wheel. The form, a broad rounded reservoir balanced on a narrow throat, recalls the gourd that may have inspired it, prized for holding and pouring water or other liquids. Bottles of this type accompanied the living in daily domestic use and the dead as grave furniture, interred in the great mound centers that defined this agricultural society. The understated, unpainted finish lets the play of fire and form speak. Size: 7.6" D x 9" H (19.3 cm D x 22.9 cm H).

The Mississippian culture (ca. 800 to 1600 CE) was a mound-building agricultural civilization spread across the American Midwest, South, and Southeast, anchored by maize farming and centered on great earthwork sites such as Cahokia in present-day Illinois. Its potters worked clay tempered with crushed freshwater mussel shell, an innovation that allowed thinner walls and larger forms. Long-necked bottles like this one are among the most recognizable Mississippian shapes, frequently recovered from burial contexts where they held offerings for the journey beyond.

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 # 202247

  • Condition: Some light restoration to rim and stable hairline pressure fissures in areas. Some nicks and abrasions to surface commensurate with age. Otherwise, very nice presentation with scattered earthen deposits.

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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