Perspective: Mayan Ceramics in Focus

Ceramics are often used as a gauge of human civilisation, how sophisticated a certain culture is can often be seen through its pottery. Exploring age-old Mayan ceramics.
Subscribe and click the bell icon to get more arts content every week:
/ perspectivearts
Perspective is KZbin's home for the arts. Come here to get your fill of great music, theatre, art and much, much more!
From "Secrets of the Exhibit"
Content licensed from Blue Ant International to Little Dot Studios.
Any queries, please contact us at:
[e-mail]

[@jakemoeller7850]

Starting with making "mud pies" as a kid, clay has fascinated me into my senior years. Ceramics was my concentration in university, and with that came a much broader appreciation of the many expressive forms obtained by the medium of clay. The Mayan tamale plate is absolutely stunning!!

[@us3rG]

We usually use fire to melt materials but we put clay in fire to strengthen it.

[@michaelburgess9707]

Mr Day is to be commended on his Battle of Britain, at 51:11 the detail is so exact I had to freeze image and yet I still can't see how he can make the eyes appear moist and glistening, Bravo, thanks for this really enjoyed it.

[@nicolestanikowski8892]

I lived next door to the Gardiner 10 years ago and had wandered through a few times but didn't have this level of understanding - guess it's time for another visit. So cool to see an in depth look into the collection, thank you!

[@claudettedelphis6476]

Always interesting to learn and look at another perspective 🌼 Thank you for inviting and sharing with us 🌸🌾🍂🦚🦩🍒🫖🥣☕️🏛⛩⏳🧱💎🔬🚿🪟🧸🎀🎏📫📚✒️🖍💕

[@shariarnold9649]

I would love to see this museum in person someday...but if that doesn’t come to pass this certainly is the next best thing. I learned so much. Thank you for sharing such an informative and interesting video.✨

[@Bzcenci812]

. On seeing this collection I hear in my ears a phrase Hændel included in his Messiah: "Marvellous! Wonderful!"... a great Collection and a great video. And it is evident that the curators love intensely the material they are describing and explaining. Everything is beautiful. I collect porcelain and I have also worked with clay for some time.

[@0210rokvist]

Thank you. This is marvellous. More, please

[@eo31772]

Very beautiful and amazing sounds at 19:42

[@katescrimgeour3884]

That was a very interesting summary of the Gardiner Museum in Toronto. Its always so fascinating to hear the knowledge and pasio of the curators, archeologists and experts. Two annoyances - I'm not sure how much voice work the narrator Shawn Devlin does - but his voice was quite jarring; as well - the background music - annoying and constant.

[@mariongrantham7914]

Very well done and use of ceramic pieces chosen was great!

[@snufkinhollow318]

Very informative although I do agree with the comment that it's perhaps not as vibrant and informative as something Waldemar would have created. That said, the whole style of the documentary was different and designed to showcase a particular collection. I enjoyed that element but would love to see this expanded into a whole series on ceramics. And just back to Waldemar for a moment, I found Paul Day's 'Battle of Britain' exhibit to be very evocative of Niccolò dell'Arca's 'Compianto sul Cristo morto' (Lamentation Over the Dead Christ), featured in Waldemar's fabulous series of films on the Renaissance.

[@suzbone]

It took me until 12:18 to notice the gorgeous ladies standing piss-pot in the display case. I love that the sides are curled inward to prevent sloshing.

[@artheaded1]

I was hoping they'd do a little explanation of that piece! LOL

[@jimksa67]

Paul Day's stuff is phenomenal!

[@nordlys3432]

Great informations. Thanks from a ceramist.

[@noblenotes27]

Absolutely wonderful!

[@cicicox5995]

loved this

[@MikeWood]

Great museum. And that whistling piece was fascinating. :) The Colima repro I have, I only wish to be real. Another tip for the hollow ones would be residue of insects inside which could indicate age.

[@flipflopski2951]

How would you know when the insects crawled in there?

[@vinzent1992]

That horrible "dramatic music" in the background ruins the video for me completely!.

[@katescrimgeour3884]

I totally agree - why do producers think they need to add it - can't we be just as interested in listening to the experts.

[@caroletaylor3884]

Very interesting

[@Andy_Babb]

20:50 I bet it was a kids toy. It drives me nuts how so many archaeologists instantly go to “yeah it’s probably ceremonial”

[@us3rG]

When you live in the mountains or forests whistling is vary helpfull

[@franciscoeme]

How did Canada get Mayan pieces? Those pieces should be in their own countries.

[@uilustra6364]

Yes, it should be with the Spaniards, I mean Mexicans, lol

[@jimksa67]

@@uilustra6364 love the Mayan glyphs and humor despite their brutal pagan practices! The greedy Spanish were not much better.

[@andresmaynez3060]

I find hilarious that the archaeologists didn’t believe the mayas were telling the truth at first, not until they actually found a vessel with chocolate remains 😂

[@Bzcenci812]

The piece shown from minute 1957 is called, in Spanish "huaco silbador" . How do you say "huaco" in English?

[@abouvier3457]

Great topic! Why is the sound so low?

[@eartherinfire]

So you can enjoy the background music. 😣

[@Norfolk250]

14:06 Hey! It's Ernie's great great great great great gr..........grandma! I wonder if they'll ever find one of Bert's

[@bunnylady6758]

What if an earthquake hits the museum? All the displays breaking🤔 The Battle of Britain sculpture is amazing😊

[@jztouch]

I thought the same thing! All those pieces right at the edge of the shelves! 🤭

[@ThuyBachMai]

❤❤

[@neilsunn]

Ceramics are for today.

[@LindaCasey]

💞

[@Jasper-nk5fo]

It’s time we stopped ‘gauging’ societies on arbitrary scales, which inevitably lead to a claim of cultural superiority, and start thinking of cultures as constellations rather than continuums

[@rosalindmartin4469]

Interactivity! Perhaps more interplanetery ... Arrgh... so many uses and misuses of "judgmentality" as we are Always Assessing our surroundings.... Or mentally erasing disregarding those surroundings as we mentally focus so strongly on our own personal behavior and interests.

[@casteretpollux]

Certainly Western Europe looks culturally insignificant if measured by this scale.

[@lesliechristensen6974]

THANK YOU.

[@geniusmcwhatnot9869]

this narrator has a voice like John Candy!

[@ErikBramsen]

Wow. That museum building is an insult to beauty, grace and truth. What an eye-sore!

[@lopamudraray4571]

They could have hired a better architect.

[@technofeeliak]

It's not trumploy... it's "trompe l'oeil" which directly translates from French to fool the eye.

[@mdude625]

@Perspective: The third "of" in your video's title is spelled with an "s" instead of an "f."

[@elceliaw8606]

💖💕

[@holdfaststarspark333]

Work by Greg Payce made in 1956? I don't think so. That was the year he was born.

[@emmahardesty4330]

Good information and intriguing; the whistling pot is just great ... but isn't it way past time that "prehistoric man" is replaced with " prehistoric people"?

[@lopamudraray4571]

You don't seem to have Terracotta collections in the museum.

[@eartherinfire]

Did you see all the Mayan pieces?

[@robertgotschall1246]

As someone hopelessly naive to all this, thanks. I didn't even understand the archaeological significance of pottery until Time Team came along. Didn't they use ceramics on the space shuttle?

[@OstblockLatina]

Thank heavens pre-columbian or any other pottery can't be melted and turned into something else, like gold could, or re-cut and polished to be reused to adorn jewelry like precious stones could be. Otherwise we'd never have seen a single piece of it in its original form nowadays. What a shame the native American civilisations didn't use clay to adorn themselves and create holy artifacts instead of gold.

[@us3rG]

What holy artifacts? Lol

[@bricksloth6920]

Interesting (albeit not as interesting as Waldemar).

[@cristinerein5305]

I do love Waldemar. 👍

[@susanaschwartz9464]

Waldemar is exceptional. I can never get enough of his clever approach to art.

[@SakanaDrawing]

spelling mistake

[@majomaja5646]

The ceramic twins @ 6:38 look like President Xi Jinping in drag.

[@tammywilliams1844]

Murph why

[@OstblockLatina]

Development of luxurious pottery (among other luxury goods) doesn't prove society's sophistication. It proves society's stratification, division, development of rich, privileged and idle minority in power of the vast majority of the society which it is exploiting and violently subjugating in order for it to cater to the whims of the former, while not allowing it to participate in any of the sophistication and luxury mentioned above.

[@uilustra6364]

A sophisticated society usually has a defined stratification, I will not go into the obvious factor that ceramics were developed as utensils. And that the richest people would want to have their ceramics to distinguish themselves socially, like the current luxury products that have their price, and most of them, based on exclusivity.

[@wa_________ge3254]

Wtf Murph

[@kingafendikingafendi8897]

The ADDING of the black dots is fake

[@bobmateljan6986]

Obvious that those scenes were of the New World.

[@flipflopski2951]

Plastic is a very poor analogy for the secretive invention and production of porcelain. Nobody tried to keep the manufacture of plastic a secret. They just patented their particular method. The invention of the atomic bomb is a much better analogy.

[@jztouch]

Many of the Latin American pieces look very humorous to me. I think those ancient peoples must have had great senses of humor. I imagine they must have cracked themselves up making some of those pieces.

[@gaylereid8264]

Soo, why didn't your intense study into the importance of ceramics divulge the ingredient the west had to eeke out of China???

[@gaylereid8264]

It's alabaster

[@uilustra6364]

Withdraw? he discovered, not from the Chinese, if he was going to remove it they would have done it before,

[@carrenclarke2538]

interesting but nothing about African clay .

[@chm825]

I wonder if David Stuart deciphered the Mayan Plate? The war fairing of the *peaceful Mayas*.

[@krono5el]

To be around for millennia and create so many pyramids, cities, along with agricultural developments we use everyday to this day, while creating most ball games they probably werent as war fairing as the europeans think.

[@krono5el]

@Chrystal Ball they weren't powerful they werent even unified they were just humans that cooperated and not hell bent on killing women and children and instead preoccupied with creating an incredible civilization with clean water and food for as many as possible. thats how you create and live for millennia without diseases and plagues. unlike the kings of plagues in europe

[@us3rG]

​@@krono5elthey just sacrificed they were vary peaceful, we do the same in 2023 we sacrifice babies and I think it's mostly peacfull out here

[@krono5el]

@@us3rG a sacrifice is for the greater good of the people and the future. europeans just murder people for no reason.

[@_luckicharms]

The way the narrator said "Islam" . . . and the multiple times they zoomed in on the black face comedic puppet... and the lady talking mindlessly about "im not exactly sure what they were used for" ..

[@pneumichelin2966]

The way archeologist use to date ceramic is wrong many toltec copies are fake and and specialist dont make any différence fakesome in the metropolitan museum in the us .... i know the guy who make them

[@shelleyharris2850]

Ok then.

[@billmcdonald9115]

These museum Curators handing "very rare' pieces of pottery without gloves points towards how curators always elevate themselves above all of us normals. "We curators touch you serfs don't touch".

[@PeterSt1954]

Gloves are only needed if the item would be damaged by fingerprints. Otherwise gloves can be a problem because they reduce tactile information and increase the likelihood of the object being dropped. Some libraries do not allow old books to be examined using gloves but only by clean hands. Some old leather book covers are best preserved by oil and grease from clean hands.

[@annehumphreys271]

Goodness, this is repetitive and slow! I kept waiting for more substance

[@charonrothmiller-cash9976]

Interesting that the same people are creating the same type of wares yet are called reproductions or fakers of THEIR pieces?..... it belongs to those who created it not those who put them behind glass, calling reproductions or fakes of the same people making their ancestors wares is irresponsible, maybe old and newer is more truthful

[@osharedayz3762]

Thank you for amazing info. & museum. It's sad that beautiful Rococo & Viennese pieces along with Chinese creations have to suffer being anywhere near ugly 20th century so-called 'modern artist' kindergarten-level messes: late comer are oft such disappointments!

[@jimksa67]

yeah, the modern is more decadent than anything..

[@OstblockLatina]

44:30 - this piece, functional as a bowl? Try to use it for any kind of food or thick liquid, or even better, for dough, AND THEN TRY TO CLEAN ALL THE LEFTOVERS FROM ALL THOSE TEENY TINY CRACKS. Only a person that has never washed a single dish could consider that functional. But this piece is not half as bad as the following ones presented in this material. When I look at those pieces of "modern art" I reflect that in the olden days art used to make people feel happy, pleased, wholesome, inspired, elevated etc - the modern art however makes me feel like I want to set the gallery or the museum they are exhibited in on fire, just to make them disappear and stop making the reality we live in even uglier and more repulsive, and to stop giving the onlookers eye cancer.

[@uilustra6364]

Irony, your comment, since above you mentioned the beautiful objects almost as if Karl Marx were a critic of ceramics, although everyone knows that ceramics and its development are not restricted to stratification.

[@RosinaMorelli]

damn bro chill out it’s just an old bowl

[@Square-Watermelon]

Jesus is God & He loves you Jesus will soon be seen by all men, women, and children up in the clouds. Jesus is returning now! Believe and be saved. Exodus 3:14 (God speaking) And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. John 8:58 (Jesus speaking) Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. John 10:30 (Jesus speaking) I and my Father are one. Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God *The everlasting Father,* The Prince of Peace! Matthew 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel which being interpreted is, *God with us.* John 1:1 & 14 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 14 And the Word was made flesh (Lord Jesus), and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. John 8:24 (Jesus speaking) I said therefore unto you that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. John 14:9 (Jesus speaking) Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Hebrews 1:1-3 & 8 (God calls His Son "O God" because Jesus IS God in the flesh) 1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things by whom also he made the worlds; 3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; 8 But unto the Son he saith Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom 1 John 5:7 For there are three that bear record in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. Titus 2:13* Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Revelation 1:7 Behold, he cometh with clouds; *and every eye shall see him,* and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. Isaiah 44:6 (God speaking) Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. Revelation 1:8 (Jesus speaking) I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, *the Almighty.* Revelation 22:13 (Jesus speaking) I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. --- There Are None Righteous / How To Be Saved! Romans 3:10 & 23. 10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Luke 5:31-32 (Jesus speaking) 31 And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. 32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. 1 Peter 3:18 (The word “quicken” means “to make alive”) For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Ephesians 2:8-9 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

[@sawahtb]

Your presenter with the distracting mole needs to consider removal of it if she plans to ever do more. It's a serious distraction from what I'm sure is important content. She apparently lacks self awareness and no wants to hurt her feelings. It's not helpful.

[@katescrimgeour3884]

She's not a presenter - she's a curator at the museum.

[@sawahtb]

@@katescrimgeour3884 She's on camera, presenting. I couldn't watch it.

[@leincrediblehulk]

@@sawahtb I didn't even notice it until you mentioned it as I was focussed on the subject matter, much like (I assume) the curator has been for decades, achieving a pretty respectable career out of it, whereas you can't for like, ten minutes.

[@Visiblementsaint]

is that anthony bourdain s voice