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Man’s earliest artistic instinct was somehow to copy and thus preserve what he saw in nature. Cave drawings depicting primitive attempts of this type of imagery have been uncovered all over the world. Little wonder then that the ancient clay worker also turned to nature for his models: the world around him — often difficult to comprehend — was reproduced in simple, understandable, and permanent forms, the clay worker’s imagination limited only by the pliability of the clay in his hands. Countless examples of early pottery in the crude form of animals and humans attest to this beginning of the potter’s art. It wasn’t long before our ancient clay worker tired of modeling little figurines and instead turned to making useful objects. Pots, dishes, bowls and other assorted utilitarian items replaced such natural objects as coconut shells, palm fronds, sea shells, and hollowed-out wood. But he never forgot his first love, and soon he found ways of combining his artistic copying with his more mundane work. The result, of course, was a utilitarian receptacle in the shape of an animal. Figural or character vessels had been invented.
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