Ceramic Portrait Vessels.

The article describes a collection of ceramic portrait vessels from the northeast Arkansas/Southeast Missouri area. Some of the most skillfully created works represent the human body or portions of it, during the peak of artistic achievement in the region. The figures depict people of a particular role or rank wearing regalia and carrying accoutrements of symbolic import. Typically, the handbuilt vessels are made of buff-colored clay from local deposits. Some of them feature designs, such as the cross-and-circle on the forehead, the chevron band across the eyes, and what appear to be animal fangs at the corners of the mouth.