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The Aesthetics of Clay:
Mapuche Pottery, Visual Identity
and Technological Diversity
Written by Leonor Adán A, Margarita Alvarado P and Simón Urbina A
T
he ceramic artefacts produced and
created by the Mapuche people1
display a tremendous aesthetic
richness embodied in a variety
of forms and technical solutions
that express different visual identities. These
ceramics have been made in Mapuche lands
since the 3rd century AD, in the territory of what
is now known as Chile, in South America.
Major changes were introduced when the
Spanish conquistadors arrived in these regions
in the 16th century, and the lives of these
indigenous peoples changed radically. But
ceramic artefacts continued to be an important
form of expression as incarnations of a wide
range of social and cultural signifiers.
In examining the principal ceramic works
of historic Mapuche groups inhabiting the
region between the 16th and 19th centuries,
in terms of decorative modalities and social
uses, we observed individual visual identities
in pieces intended for domestic and ritual
use.2 The embodiment, in each one of them, of
complex aesthetic codes and subtle symbolic
content revealed a strengthening in a sense of
cultural and ethnic belonging that resulted when
ancient elements were combined with European
features, and elements that were incorporated
as part of the inter-cultural dynamics in play
during the colonial era. Today, the relevance
of new pieces that recreate and renew these
historic ceramic expressions bears witness to
the technological and aesthetic power of the
Mapuche ceramics universe, and its importance
among the ceramics cultures and identities of
the southern cone of South America.
Additionally, local and chronological
differences in Mapuche ceramics production
point to some of the political and social
processes that the Mapuche people, and their
culture, historically faced and continue to
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face today. As an historical and ethnographic
testament and the main archaeological vestige
– especially in relation to funerary practices –
these clay artefacts, through their technological
particularities and their place in the material
culture, provide insight into different settlement
modes, daily lives linked to political and
territorial dynamics, and a range of other
practices associated with rituals, commensalism
and etiquette practiced under shared aesthetic
choices and visual identities.
Mapuche ceramic artefacts in the past
The archaeological ceramic styles that
emerged in the territory that is now southern
Chile provide essential background for the study
of Mapuche ceramics because their specific
forms and modalities reveal ceramic styles that
developed in the region in the 3rd century AD
and following.3 The earliest of these are part of
the ceramics culture known as Pitrén, which is
related to other ceramic styles in the Southern
Cone region. The study of museum collections
has led to the assertion that these artefacts
were created and produced by populations
practising a way of life based on horticulture,
as well as hunting and gathering, in a territory
dominated by temperate rainforests. These
groups also travelled further east, across the
Andes Mountains.
A wide variety of pieces, designs and
technologies have been identified from artefacts
found as grave goods in burial sites, revealing
their ritual usage and their deep symbolic
and social content. The Mapuche’s ample
production of pots and pitchers for holding
liquids and preparing food feature regular
shaped volumes based on geometric forms, and
polished monochromatic surfaces. Another
Pitren jar, detail.
notable feature is the enormous quantity of Image credit: Carlos
sculpted pieces – especially in the 9th century Fischer 2016.
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AD and beyond – representing animals such
as frogs and birds. These are notable for their
elaborately detailed features, which display
a marked aesthetic realism. Added to these
complex sculpted zoomorphic vessels are
anthropomorphic representations in which
figurative body parts, such as arms and legs,
offer finely detailed representations of the
human form. While artefacts from this time
were usually a single colour – indicating that
the works sought to highlight volume and detail
rather than surfaces – some less common vessels
are decorated with negative paintings in red and
black, which evokes an aesthetic characteristic
of the Pitrén tradition. This tradition is the
oldest in the region, indicating specialized
knowledge and a high degree of technical
mastery embodied in the use of fine paste and
thin vessel walls.
Around the 11th or 12th century AD,
south-central South America was undergoing
major social and cultural change as a result of
increasing social complexity, environmental
impact, and the circulation of the human
population, all of which are evoked in the
ceramic traditions of the time. Transformations
in ceramic styles such as changes in form and
volume, less sculpting of human and animal
forms, and increased production of ceramic
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pieces painted with red engobe and precise
white reticulated forms would provide a new
aesthetic for pitchers and vessels. The most
notable aspect of this tradition, which is known
as El Vergel, is the appearance of large ceramic
containers for everyday use that were installed
in a corner of the dwelling to hold liquids and
grains. When a member of the family died, these
vessels were used as funerary urns and were
buried in small cemeteries with the deceased
and their respective grave goods. This change
of usage-context invests these large urns with
special social and symbolic meaning. Their
extraordinary girth reveals a meticulous use of
manufacturing techniques, complemented by
an austere aesthetic of polished, monochrome
walls. Analysis of different museum collections
further reveal that these voluminous ceramic
artefacts were made by groups whose lives
centered around agriculture as part of their
largely sedentary way of life.
Artefacts from ceramic traditions, such as
Pitrén and El Vergel, can be linked to regional
Mapuche identities through their shared
technical knowledge and aesthetic concepts,
aspects that would have been transmitted from
generation to generation over the centuries.
One notable aspect of the manufacturing
process is the use of round strips called piulos,
Lof Collection.
Image credit: Josefina
Eyzaguirre, 2013.

This tradition is the oldest in the region,

indicating specialized knowledge
and a high degree of technical
mastery embodied in the use of
fine paste and thin vessel walls.

Pitren jars.
Image credit: Carlos
Fischer, 2016.

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 hollowed out and manually assembled to create
complex additions such as human and animal
features without the use of a potter’s wheel
or molds. Indeed, this mode of production
can still be observed in present-day Mapuche
ceramics. Work with texture can be identified
in surfaces that have been smoothed, polished
and occasionally covered with red and white
engobe or paint. In Pitrén ceramics, the highest
expression of the use of colour as a significant
element is found in the achievement of
bichromatic pieces through the use of smoke
to produce a negative effect (resist-painting),
which yields a dramatic red and black contrast.
Post contact: tradition and change
in late Mapuche ceramics
Many texts penned by early colonial
chroniclers, and accounts left by the Spanish
conquistadors, describe the production and use
of decorated ceramics as one way of articulating
the social and political system. A short verse
in Canto VI of the epic poem by Pedro de Oña
entitled Arauco Domado (Arauco Tamed)
written in 1596, provides just one example:
And then, the female company
Who were two leagues behind, waiting
[…]
Come out to welcome them on the road
With their painted pitchers of wine.4
These verses cite the use of decoratively
painted ceramic artefacts in a style that would
later be known as the Valdivia Style, which
shortly thereafter would acquire two further
decorative modes – the so-called Tringlo Style
– and decoration by means of inlaid sherds
of Spanish mayólica tiles, and pieces of glass.
Once again, interest in surfaces emerged as a
central feature in an aesthetic that would define
certain visual ceramics identities of the late
Mapuche period, pointing to the relevance and
vitality of the society and its culture. These
additional decorative modalities reflected the
major changes that the Mapuche world was
experiencing as a result of the arrival of the
Spanish conquistadors, in which periods of war
alternated with those of truce to create complex
scenarios of cultural exchange and shifting
territorial boundaries.
The Valdivia Style represents a frequent
and extensive decorative modality in which
different compositions were applied to ceramic
vessels, mainly pitchers, but also cups, plates,
bottles and, occasionally, asymmetrical jugs,
Anthropomorphic and complex sculpted anthropomorphic and
Pitren jar, H: 15 cm.
Image credit: Carlos
zoomorphic forms. Named after the city of
Fischer 2016. Valdivia in Southern Chile where early 20th
century ethnologists first described the style,
the Valdivia style references pre-Hispanic styles
such as El Vergel in both its aesthetic and forms.
Its high visibility – given the size of its artefacts
and the dramatic contrast of the red designs
against a white background – is consistent
with its use and handling in collective ritual
acts in which courtesy and the political and
economic management of Mapuche lineages
would have been exhibited and embodied in
the act of serving. The power of certain visual
identities expressed in these painted artefacts
is demonstrated in their long-standing use,
which extended into the Republican era of the
late 19th and early 20th centuries, transforming
these domestic utensils into signifiers of social
hierarchies and cultural practices. In those
later centuries, the Chilean State would occupy
indigenous lands, engendering great changes
in indigenous social relations and subsistence
strategies, and in that context ceramic artefacts
would become an important resource for
Mapuche ethnic and cultural reaffirmation.
The Tringlo Style emerged in the 16th and
17th centuries in the form of vessels with white
lines on a red background – the inverse of the
Valdivia Style – and represents an innovation in
painting modalities that enhanced the variety
of visual codes shared by Mapuche groups in
colonial times. It also combined with previous
painted geometric and linear styles, evidence
of which can be found on jugs with decorations
on their edges, handles or upper bodies. The
most common forms are plates decorated with
starred motifs around the edges and truncated
cone shaped cups with complex handles and
completely flat bases that point to contact with
and the incorporation of Hispanic knowledge
and techniques. Many of these pieces are
identifiable by their European tile and glass
shards, which bear witness to the creativity
and flexibility of the Mapuche potters who
appropriated and incorporated these new
elements into their artistic expressions and
everyday social life.
A final decorative variety of Mapuche
ceramics in the late colonial and Republican
periods is decoration with inlays of Spanish
tiles and porcelain, with jugs being the
predominant form, although cups and sculpted
anthropomorphic forms also occur. The lips
of these pieces are often marked by regularly
spaced dots and geometric motifs such as
crosses on the handles and upper part of the
bodies. In some cases, representations of a circle
with a cruciform figure resembling a topu inside
have been identified. The topu is a silver brooch
used by Mapuche women to fasten their shawls,
and its presence here reinforces the idea that
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a piece is often ‘dressed up’ with an aesthetic
gesture. These tiny shards of porcelain and
decorative tiles inlaid into the Mapuche vessel
from the late period show how the social and
material history of integration of European
and American peoples can be condensed into
a subtle gesture. Historic and archaeological
studies reveal that the decorative tiles found
on these pieces originated mainly in Panama
or Lima before making their way to cities in the
south of Chile. Mapuche craftspeople worked
on the shards and then applied them to their
monochromatic vessels, thereby appropriating
and giving new life to the European elements
of their vessels. It was a subtle display of their
social interaction, their ability to adapt their
knowledge and techniques, and their search
for a new aesthetic.
Ceramic visual identities, interculturality
and political dynamics
Mapuche ceramic assemblages from the
15th to the 19th centuries included styles that
employed different modalities – polished
surfaces, the use of engobes and paint, and the
incorporation of inlays – to reflect the makers
desire to create a shared visual identity. In a
society such as the Mapuche, with its complex
social hierarchies and delicate political alliances,
the ceramics universe was always an essential
part of the material culture, as it was exhibited
in both everyday and ritual contexts. It is no
surprise that diverse decorative modalities
associated with a certain visual identity occur
precisely at a time in history dominated by inter-
cultural relations in the midst of circumstances
that shifted frequently from peaceful
coexistence to out-right war. During this time,
Mapuche ceramics production, the artisans
involved, and the communities that consumed
References
1. Bengoa, J. 2003. Historia de los antiguos mapuches del
sur. Desde antes de la llegada de los españoles y las paces
de Quilin. Catalonia, Santiago-Chile; Boccara, G. 2007. Los
Vencedores. Historia del pueblo mapuche en la época
colonial. Universidad Católica del Norte, Santiago-Chile.
2. Project FONDECYT 1130730 Historical Archaeology of
Valdivia and its jurisdiction in the Colonial Period.
3. Adán, L. & M. Alvarado, 1999, ‘Análisis de colecciones alfareras
pertenecientes al Complejo Pitrén: una aproximación desde la
arqueología y la estética’, Actas de las III Jornadas de Arqueología
de la Patagonia, pp. 245-268. Neuquén-Argentina; Adán, L.,
R. Mera, M. Alvarado & M. Uribe, 2005, ‘La tradición cerámica
bícroma rojo sobre blanco en la región sur de Chile: los estilos
decorativos Vergel y Valdivia’. Actas del XVI Congreso Nacional
de Arqueología Chilena, pp. 399-410. Sociedad Chilena de
Arqueología, Concepción-Chile; Adán, L., R. Mera, D. Munita, & M.
Alvarado, 2016, ‘Análisis de la cerámica de tradición indígena en la
jurisdicción de Valdivia: estilos Valdivia, Tringlo y Decorado con
Incrustaciones’, Arqueología de la Patagonia: De Mar a Mar, pp.
313-323. Ediciones CIEP & Ñire Negro Ediciones, Santiago-Chile.
4. Oña, P. de [1596] 1918, Arauco Domado. Imprenta Universitaria,
Santiago-Chile, p. 242. Translated from the original Spanish: En tanto
la feminea compañía/Que estaba atrás dos leguas, aguardando …
Salen a recebillo al camino/Con sus pintados cántaros de vino.
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and discarded their wares, conserved both
pre-Hispanic and colonial traditions, and also
gradually incorporated yet other modifications
as a result of their contact with neighbouring
groups and other settlers of European origin.
Today, the capacity for innovating and
maintaining the relevance of Mapuche ceramic
traditions can be observed in several creative
projects by Chilean artisans and indigenous
communities. Contemporary efforts to create
ceramic pieces that embody the traditions of the
Mapuche include the work of Ignacia Murtagh,
an artist and designer who, inspired by Pitrén
ceramic forms created 1500 years ago, has
developed an assemblage of porcelain artefacts,
called Lof, that reinterpret the aesthetics
of prolific geometric forms and polished
surfaces found in that ancient tradition. The
Widülafquen, Alfareras de Lago (Potters of the
Lake) project, based in a Mapuche community
near Lago Panguipulli in Southern Chile, in
which a group of women are reproducing
original pieces from the Pitrén tradition with the
same aesthetics and techniques, creating sets of
earthenware that are used today as decorative
pieces and as souvenirs for tourists
Evidently, both change and tradition are
visible in ceramic assemblages of the past
and present, revealing not only the Mapuche
society that created them, but also an inter-
cultural society in which indigenous, European
and Republican traditions were combined
from the 16th century onward, and in which
the diversification of decorative modalities
described herein helped to perpetuate cultural
traditions inherited from pre-Hispanic times,
but always in combination with a certain
capacity for innovation that remains present
to this day. n
About the Authors Right:Tringlo style
Leonor Adán is an archeologist with a PhD in History, cup, H: 13 cm.
specialising in Ethnohistory. She currently works Image credit: Carlos
at the Universidad Austral de Chile. She has studied Fischer, 2016.
Mapuche ceramic styles ranging from the earliest Following page:
expressions to those of historic periods. She is Widulafken modern
currently directing the project FONDECYT 1130730. ceramics of Panguipulli
commune.
Margarita Alvarado has a Licentiate degree in Aesthetics Image credit: Diego
and a PhD in Latin American Studies. She works at Saavedra, 2015.
the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. She has
conducted ethno-aesthetic studies on Mapuche ceramics
and textiles and on indigenous-themed Photography.
Simón Urbina is an archeologist with a Masters’
in Ethnohistory. He works at the Universidad
Austral de Chile. He has directed research on
settlement systems during historic periods and
intercultural relations in frontier regions.
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Many texts penned by early colonial

chroniclers, and accounts left by the
Spanish conquistadors, describe the
production and use of decorated
ceramics as one way of articulating
the social and political system.

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