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Museum Collections - Mesoamerica - Toltec - Artifact #1

Ceramic kneeling warrior - Toltec

WHO: Toltec culture

WHERE: Mexico

WHEN: Postclassic Period, A.D. 900 - 1200

WHAT: Effigy vessel depicting a kneeling warrior. The artistic output of the Toltec suggests something of a fascination with the image of the Toltec warrior. Warriors were commonly presented, as seen here, with the flat-topped pill-box hat, and military weaponry. Vessels such as these are called “Plumbate wares” because their high gloss (a product of the slip and the firing techniques used) resembles a lead oxide, or Plumbate glaze. True glaze decorations were not present in the Americas until the arrival of European colonists in the 16th century.

HOW: Hand-formed Plumbate ware. Heavily incised decoration.

MUSEUM: Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art. G83.1.121

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