Aztec Pottery Essay

Art in the Aztec empire came from a long line of history. The history was made from many different tribes. It is known that “most of the historical and archaeological testimonies of ancient Mexico come from the Aztec world and, in particular, its capital city, Mexico City- Tenochtitlan” (Brumfiel & Feinman, 2008, 153). The techniques used in the Aztec art were influenced by years of artistry. Ancient Aztec art was usually traded from countries nearby. Aztecs took pride in creating very beautiful pottery. The Aztecs, were thought to have originated as a nomadic tribe in Northern Mexico. The Aztecs considered their “own household wares to be less fine than Mixteca-Puebla pottery” (Pasztory, 1998, p. 292). There is a lot to be known about the ancient Aztec Pottery. The ancient Aztec pottery follows curious traditions. The earliest known piece of “pottery was made approximately 4500 years ago” (Sayer). At the end of the 52 year cycle a lot of home goods were destroyed, so experts were able to understand the changes in

The clay they used was locally found and made through sifting, grinding, and kneading. Glazes for the most part were unknown. They often used a white background with black, orange or red over. It is found that “the most common ceramics in orange ware were vessels with black designs, though the color is actually grayish or brownish, rather than black and does not stand out sharply from the background orange color” (Pasztory, 1998, p. 294). The Aztec usually only used single colors, like black. They would use black designs on orange ground, and red ground. The tradition “probably comes from the ornament of Toltec pottery, its wavy lines, frets, and spiral painted in a hurried a cursive style (Pasztory, 1998, p. 293). That is why the design we know now as “Aztec” is the lines and spirals of different