Mimesis and Alterity in Classic Veracruz Ceramic Art

Summary

The relief-carved fine paste wares, figurines, and ceramic sculptures of south-central Veracruz exhibit stylistic similarities often attributed to mass production. Yet, there are few molds in the archaeological record, suggesting that replication hinges on the artist’s understanding of materials, techniques and canons of representation. Looking beyond the southern Gulf lowlands we see certain affinities between Classic Veracruz ceramic art and that of its Mesoamerican neighbors. Barbara Stark notes that ceramic resemblances can be measured on an ordinal scale distinguishing degrees of copying. Using Stark’s metrics of replication, imitation, and adaptation, this paper examines stylistic standardization and emulation both locally and inter-regionally.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Molding Matter: Technologies of Reproduction in the Precolumbian Americas   •
• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14926