Pedestal Bowl 13th-16th century Guanacaste-Nicoya During the last few centuries prior to the Spanish conquest, numerous ceramic styles were produced in the Greater Nicoya region of Costa Rica that were strongly inspired in form and decoration by ceramic traditions in the Maya area and central Mexico. One of those styles, known as Vallejo, emphasizes white-slipped surfaces with polychrome designs outlined by incision, as seen on this pedestal bowl. The motifs decorating the outside of the vessel recall the geometric, brightly colored painting styleknown as Mixteca-Pueblapopular in central Mexico at the time. Elements of the style and the religious concepts associated with it spread throughout Mesoamerica and northern Central America, probably by means of an exchange network of elite goods and perhaps even an influx of migrating Nahua-speaking peoples from northern Mexico. Local ceramic artists formulated their own interpretation of the foreign imagery and created a blend of figures an