Description
From the first millennium B.C. until the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century, artists from across the ancient Americas created small-scale architectural effigies to be placed in the tombs of important individuals. These works in stone, ceramic, wood, and metal range from highly abstracted, minimalist representations of temples and houses to elaborate complexes populated with figures, conveying a rich sense of ancient ritual and daily life. Although described as models, these effigies were created not so much as reflections or prototypes of existing structures, but rather as critical, conceptual components of funerary practice and beliefs about an afterlife.

![The Wyvern Collection: Medieval and Later Ivory Carvings and Small Sculpture [Hardcover] Williamson, Paul](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/61YR4fz0JsL._SY466_-1-300x450.jpg)

![A Divine Light : Northern Renaissance Paintings From the Bob Jones University Museum & Gallery [Paperback] Kennedy, Trinita & John Nolan](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/517Sf6pRpFL._SY342_-1.jpg)
![Stuart Walker: Modernist Master Revealed (A Retrospective Exhibition) [Paperback] Payne, Aaron; Stuart Walker](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/91lyPzkoVL._SY342_-1-300x342.jpg)
![The Art of German Stoneware, 1300-1900: From the Charles W. Nichols Collection and the Philadelphia Museum of Art [Paperback] Hinton, Jack](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/61x0T1TJZWL._SY342_-1.jpg)
![The Jewelry and Metalwork of Marie Zimmermann [Hardcover] Deborah Dependahl Waters; Kimberley Ahara; Bruce Barnes and Joseph Cunningham](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/51-271x8apL._SY425_-1-300x425.jpg)
![Make It New: Abstract Painting from the National Gallery of Art, 19501975 [Paperback] Cooper, Harry; Breslin, David and Jolly, Matt](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/61i1k-PWaAL._SY522_-1-300x450.jpg)
![Grand Design: Pieter Coecke van Aelst and Renaissance Tapestry (Metropolitan Museum of Art (Hardcover)) [Hardcover] Cleland, Elizabeth](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/71eoIqSeqpL._SY466_-1-300x450.jpg)

![Roberto Capucci: Art into Fashion [Hardcover] Blum, Dilys E.](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/61poixzCplL._SY522_-1-300x450.jpg)
![Gracious Plenty: American Still-Life Art from Southern Collections [Paperback] Pennington, Estill Curtis (Morris Curator of Southern Painting)](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/A18t6PF-OkL._SY342_-1.jpg)
![Aphrodite and the Gods of Love [Paperback] Kondoleon, Christine & Phoebe C. Segal (editors)](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/81X3edEty6L._SY466_-1-300x450.jpg)
![Extending the Artist's Hand: Contemporary Sculpture from the Walla Walla Foundry [Hardcover] Wells, Keith; Bruce, Director Chris; Rawlins, V Lane and Dine, Jim](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/612TeDec9jL._SY342_-1.jpg)


![Intimate Revelations: The Art of Carroll Beckwith (1852-1917) [Paperback] Carroll Beckwith (Pepi Marchetti Franchi & Bruce Weber)](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/412pfXTBMUL._SX445_-1-300x333.jpg)

![Joe Sorren in Celebration of Balance [Hardcover] Sorren, Joe](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/410hbWL9O9L._SY466_-1-300x450.jpg)

![Byzantine Things in the World [Hardcover] Peers, Glenn; Barber, Charles; Caffey, Stephen; Franses, Henri Rico and Shiff, Richard](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/41Z0cRailNL._SY425_-1-300x425.jpg)