Pre-Columbian Art
200 BCE–1500 CEThe color traditions of Mesoamerican and South American civilizations — murals, ceramics, and textiles using pigments unknown to the Old World.
Maya blue (a synthetic pigment of indigo + palygorskite clay), cochineal red from insects, and mineral pigments on lime plaster and ceramic. These pigments are extraordinarily durable — Maya blue survives centuries in tropical conditions.
Bonampak Muralists
580–800Maya
The anonymous Maya painters of the Bonampak murals — the most complete surviving cycle of pre-Columbian painting. Three rooms showing battle, triumph, and ritual.
The Bonampak murals use Maya blue — an artificial pigment made by heating indigo with palygorskite clay. It is one of the most chemically stable pigments ever created by any civilization.
Nazca Ceramic Painters
-100–600Nazca (Peru)
The Nazca civilization of coastal Peru produced the most colorful ceramics in the pre-Columbian world — up to 15 different slip colors on a single vessel.
Nazca polychrome uses mineral slip pigments (finely ground minerals in clay suspension) applied before firing. The range of colors achievable rivals any ceramic tradition in world history.