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 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)



![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)
![Frans Wildenhain 1950-75: Creative and Commercial American Ceramics at Mid-Century [Hardcover] Austin, Bruce A. and Profusely illustrated](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/71ZQm1MYQNL._SY425_-1-300x425.jpg)

![Swedish Wooden Toys (Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, Des) [Paperback] Ogata, Amy F. and Weber, Susan](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/61pbgkyHjxL._SY385_-1-300x385.jpg)


![Pictures, Patents, Monkeys, And More
On Collecting [Hardcover] Green, Gregory; Coles, Willie; Rath, Alan; Rosen, Kay; Antoni, Janine; Gonzalez-Torres, Felix; Marclay, Christian; Rhoades, Jason; Stockholder, Jessica; Wilson, Fred; Yuskavage, Lisa; Schaffner, Ingrid and Muensterberger, Werner](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/71oimCtsK4L._SY342_-1.jpg)
![Rico Lebrun: The Line of Passion - Drawings, Paintings, Prints and Sculpture [Paperback] Lebrun, Rico; Leonard Baskin; Michael T. Ricker](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/91eoawz7kCL._SY425_-1-300x425.jpg)
![LA PRESENCIA:Latin American Art in the United States [Paperback] (various authors)](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/A1LIfbkQAkL._SY385_-1-300x385.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)