Arcaded Handle Jar

Part of the David Dye Pottery Photos exhibit

Description

Arcaded handle jar with incised parallel lines, interior beveled and notched lip or upper rim, and four interconnected swirls or volutes on body. Jars such as this one may have been employed to transform mundane concoctions into sacred medicines used to purify ritual practitioners. This jar from Chucalissa dates to the late sixteenth century or early seventeenth century.