Latvian pottery
Latvian pottery or Latvian ceramics is one of the country's oldest art forms, dating back to the Neolithic. The best-known subset of Latvian pottery is Latgalian pottery. The eastern region of Latgale is the most prolific producer of wares.
As a rule, Latvian pottery is characterized by an absence of any painted-on patterns or designs, instead, solid colours and gradients are used. Traditionally subdued, earthen hues are used; however, artisans can be seen using brighter colours in their unique pieces. Mottled glaze and random artefacts are characteristic of Latvian pottery.
Prehistoric period
The Neolithic Pit–Comb Ware culture that spanned the entire territory of modern-day Latvia derives its name from the pottery characteristic of the time – wares decorated with impressions of a comb-like object. Narva culture spanning the entire territory of modern-day Estonia and Latvia, as well as parts of Lithuania and Western Russia, is a subset of the larger Pit–Comb Ware culture.Pit–Comb Ware culture is usually thought to have used an early form of what are today known as the Uralic languages, a competing view is that they may have been speakers of a Paleo-European language.
Latgalian pottery
Some of the types of wares characteristic to Latgale pottery are vāraunieks, medaunieks, sloinīks, ķērne, ļaks, piena pods, kazelnieks, pārosis, bļoda, krūze.Some Latgale pottery wares are not food-related, these include human, animal, folk figure shaped ocarinas, candlesticks and decorative plates and possibly other items meeting more contemporary demands, for example, ashtrays.