REPLICA MIMBRES BOWLS AND THE POTTERS OF SAN JUAN DE ORIENTE The people of San Juan de Oriente have been producing beautiful, intricate pottery designs for hundreds of years. This small village in Nicaragua is comparable to the Mata Ortiz region of Mexico twenty or more years ago, in terms of its importance in the world of collectible pottery. Nestled in the hills between the volcanoes Masaya and Mombacho, San Juan de Oriente’s ceramic tradition dates back to 1,000 BC. Recently, a friend began importing their pottery for sale here in the U.S. We saw the quality of these pots and knew we’d finally found the right people to create our long sought replica Mimbres bowls. The first six designs in the series were all produced by Gregorio Bracamonte. Gregorio is known world wide for his extremely fine pre- Columbian ceramic reproductions. He uses hand-sifted clay and resinous tree sap as a natural glaze. All bowls in the series are signed and dated. They are copied meticulously from photos of actual Mimbres bowls found in New Mexico and made circa 1,000 AD.   As each bowl is hand thrown, sizes and shapes will vary slightly. Average dimensions are: 9” diameter x 3 ½” tall. The black mat slip is hand painted onto a pale sand colored body. These are low fire decorative pieces of great intricacy and thus not recommended for food service. Price: $98.00 each