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.
![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)
![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)
![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)
![George Inness and the Visionary Landscape [Hardcover] Bell, Adrienne Baxter](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/615PhhKthsL._SY342_-1.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)
![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)
![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)
![Angels and Wild Things: The Archetypal Poetics of Maurice Sendak [Paperback] Cech, John](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/91YTCMrs8jL._SY385_.jpg)
![TREASURY OF AMERICAN DESIGN AND ANTIQUES: A PICTORIAL SURVEY OF POPULAR FOLK ARTS (2 vols) [Unknown Binding] unknown author](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/41y20B-ndqL-1.jpg)
![Daniel Senise: La mirada iluminante = the enlightening gaze (Spanish Edition) [Paperback] Mesquita, Ivo; Tejada, Roberto](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/41KpOT2YG1L-1-300x450.jpg)
![Loteria The King of Things El Rey de las Cosas [Game] Artemio Rodriges](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/91wisICGexS._SY522_-1-300x450.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)
![Panaesthetics: On the Unity and Diversity of the Arts (The Anthony Hecht Lectures in the Humanities Series) [Hardcover] Albright, Daniel](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/71tyEo5BxYL._SY385_-1.jpg)
![Book of Theatre Products [Paperback] Theatre Products](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/41AbgX-jm9L._SY342_-1.jpg)
