Lot 99

Mississippian Caddo Blackware Bottle - Blakely Engraved Lines

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Lot 99
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Mississippian Caddo Blackware Bottle - Blakely Engraved Lines
Mississippian Caddo Blackware Bottle - Blakely Engraved Lines
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Mississippian Caddo Blackware Bottle - Blakely Engraved Lines

Estimate: $600 - $900

Starting Bid: $300

(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. 1400–1600 CE. A globular blackware bottle rising from a rounded, slightly flattened base to a tall, gently flaring cylindrical neck. The smoky gray-black surface, achieved through reduction firing and burnishing, carries sets of fine engraved vertical lines that sweep from shoulder to base, dividing the swollen body into balanced panels. The restrained decoration, incised after the vessel leathered but before firing, exemplifies the Blakely Engraved type of the Caddo ceramic tradition. Vessels of this form served both domestic and mortuary purposes, frequently interred as grave offerings and prized for their elegant proportions and lustrous finish. The economy of ornament, letting form and burnish speak, marks the confident hand of a Caddo potter working within one of North America's most refined ceramic canons. Size: 6.5" D x 8.5" H (16.5 cm D x 21.6 cm H).

The Caddo peoples of the Trans-Mississippi South, spanning present-day eastern Texas, northwestern Louisiana, southwestern Arkansas, and eastern Oklahoma, produced some of the most technically accomplished pottery north of Mexico. Blakely Engraved is a defined type within this tradition, distinguished by simple engraved lines executed on well-burnished dark ware. Reduction firing in an oxygen-starved atmosphere produced the characteristic gray-to-black surface, after which the vessel was polished to a soft sheen. Long-necked bottles like this one are among the most iconic Caddo forms and are recovered chiefly from burial contexts, where they accompanied the dead as containers likely holding liquids or offerings.

Provenance: private Colorado, USA Collection; ex-private Denver, Colorado, USA collection; ex-private Flushing, New York and Ridgeway, Colorado, USA collection; found in Clark County Arkansa, USA

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Item # 202989

  • Condition: Repaired at neck with break line visible. Chipping to rim, as well as nicks and abrasions to surface, all commensurate with age. Otherwise, nice presentation with rich earthen deposits to interior. Old collection label on underside of base.

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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