The ancient Maya brought their ingenuity and creativity to the fields of agriculture, early writing, astronomy, mathematics, architecture, and more. Their highly developed civilization gave rise to some of the world’s most beautiful art forms, which artists across Central America continue to preserve today.
Ceramics
Mayan pottery was shaped by hand and adorned with paintings of ancient rulers, gods, and stories. Skilled artisans were sponsored by royalty and priests, and their ceramics were given as important diplomatic gifts to neighboring peoples. Traces of this aesthetic legacy are still evident in these traditional ceramic works.
Carved limestone stelae, or monuments, praised the mighty works of kings and marked the dates of important conquests. Ancient temples and civic structures were adorned with figurines and relief sculptures. After the arrival of the Spanish, saints and angels began to appear on carvings, as well as animals and scenes of everyday life. This early art form survives in the sculptures of modern Central American artisans.
Mayan jade comes in a variety of natural colors, although green was the most venerated. It was used in jewelry, clothing, and religious ceremonies and was considered a material form of the wind. With its symbolic ties to breath, it was used in burials and also to summon ancestors and gods. Modern jewelry artisans combine these radiant gems with polished silver.
Ancient Maya textiles were highly sophisticated pieces, created on the backstrap loom from cotton and maguey fibers. Organic colors were obtained from plants, and at least two brocade patterns were in use. Handwoven textiles were so valued, they were even used to pay taxes and tributes to royalty.
Modern forms of jaspe, a type of resist-dyeing technique, trace their lineage to the Maya, evident in paintings on ancient ceramics. Today, incredible Maya textiles are on display in the famous Ixchel Museum in Guatemala City.
Detailed and colorful murals adorned walls in several ancient Maya cities. They depicted ceremonial events, gods and goddesses, along with everyday life among nobles and royalty. Today's Guatemalan painters have evolved their own style of depicting day-to-day events as well as contemporary landscapes.
Our customers have helped us to send over $100 million to artisans around the world. Impact the artisan causes closest to your heart with every purchase you make.
We're curating our Instagram feed to reflect the vibrancy of the cultures and places we love. Discover what we mean when we say NOVICA is color!
You received this message because you are signed up to receive NOVICA News updates to this email address: newsletter@gmail.com
To enjoy the full discount described in the promotion above, please be sure to click on the buttons or links within this email to activate the promotion. The promotion is a up to 15% sale on handcrafted items from our Central America region and ends at 11:59 PM (Pacific Time) on September 20. Exclusions may apply and promotions are subject to change. Offers cannot be combined with other promotions, cannot be applied to prior orders, cannot be applied to wholesale orders, and only apply to items sold on the NOVICA website.
At NOVICA, happiness is our mission, and love is at the core. Here are the ten choices and one core value that we live by.
