05/29/2026
I think of the cacao vessel as architecture. Not just metaphorically but literally. Architecture is the art and science of shaping functional structures with intention, and that is exactly what pre-Columbian and pre-contact civilizations did when they formed these vessels from earth. They brought the same knowledge, the same deliberateness, the same understanding of space and form that raised pyramids and temples. With clay they made it into something small enough to hold in two hands.
The cacao vessel didn’t transcend its material. It elevated it. Clay became structure and structure became the sacred made tangible. Here are some examples of the different shapes and forms.
Cover - Chimú cacao vessel, Projet Chocolat private collection
1. Vessels with cacao traces from Valdivia (A, B, C, D), Chorrera (E), and Jama Coaque (F, G) cultures of Ecuador, and the Calima Ilama (H, I) of Colombia.
2. Maya Cacao Vessel, Tzakal u K’ahk’ Hutal Ek’, lord of Acanceh, 600 - 900 AD
3. La Chocolatera de Río Azul, locked lidded, Guatemala, 460 CE
4. Maya painted ceramic cacao pod vessel
5. Pre-Columbian cacao vessel, Projet Chocolat private collection
6. Ancestral Puebloan cacao cylinder jars, Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico, 800 AD
7. Lidded Tripod Cylinder Vessel with Head of Cacao Deity, Guatemala, Petén, Naranjo or vicinity, Maya, early 5th century, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
8. Engraved spouted jar, Maya 50 BCE–100 CE, Guatemala or Mexico, Mesoamerica, Indurated limestone
