Maya Ceramic Copador Bowl

Bold black outlines frame a band of glyph-like shapes, painted with total confidence.

This Copador bowl is Maya, from Honduras, and dates to 300 – 900 CE. It is painted pottery. Copador ware is generally associated with the Copán region, and its bright orange-red slips and pseudo-glyph bands made it one of the most widely traded painted wares of the Classic Maya. The rounded bowl has a red rim band above a cream frieze of stylized, glyph-like panels separated by vertical lines. Below, a red band and curling scroll forms circle the lower body. A fine crack runs down from the rim. It is 3.5 inches high and 8 in diameter.

The writing may be decorative, but the hand behind it was sure.