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 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)

![Splendor, Myth, and Vision: Nudes from the Prado [Hardcover] Loughman, Thomas J.; Morris, Kathleen M.; Yeager-Crasselt, Lara; Burke, Jill and Portús, Javier](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/61GM3dFcJJL._SY425_-1-300x425.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)


![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)


![Nam June Paik: Becoming Robot [Hardcover] Asia Society; Chiu, Melissa and Yun, Michelle](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/61YM9OYqnL._SY466_-1-300x450.jpg)
![David Smith: The formative years : sculptures and drawings from the 1930s and 1940s [Paperback] Wilkin, Karen; Smith, David](https://artwheelshop.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/51A60aVMAtL._SY425_-1-300x425.jpg)
